Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-cx56b Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-03T04:30:10.736Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Understanding the P Cygni profile

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2016

N. Rons*
Affiliation:
I.W.O.N.L. bursary holder Astrofysisch Instituut, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussel, Belgium

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Narrow Absorption Components (NACs) have been detected in essentially all unsaturated P Cygni profiles of O-type stars (Howarth & Prinja, 1989). Time-series of observations have revealed their migration through the profile's absorption trough (Prinja et al., 1987, Henrichs et al., 1988). The interpretation of the NACs is essential for the understanding of the dynamic structure of the winds of O stars and of the driving mechanisms behind it. The P Cygni profile substructures caused by isolated reverse and forward shocks were calculated in a ‘line only’ approximation for a spherically symmetric, isothermal stellar wind. The Comoving Frame method was used for an accurate treatment of the complex radiation transfer in the shock environment. The underlying velocity structure follows a β-law (except in the innermost layers where a polynomial law was used) while the ionization was taken to be constant throughout the entire wind.

Type
7. OB Stellar Winds
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1994 

References

Henrichs, H.F., Kaper, L., Zwarthoed, G.A.A.: 1988, Ap. J. 317, 389 Google Scholar
Henrichs, H.F., Kaper, L., Zwarthoed, G.A.A.: 1988, ‘Rapid Variability in O Star Winds’ in Rolfe, E.J., ed(s)., A Decade of UV Astronomy with IUE , Proc. Celebratory Symposium, GSFC, Greenbelt, USA, ESA SP-281, Vol. 2, 145 Google Scholar
Howarth, I.D., Prinja, R.K.: 1989, Ap. J. Supp. Ser. 69, 527 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prinja, R.K., Howarth, I.D., Henrichs, H.F.: 1987, Ap. J. 317, 389 Google Scholar
Prinja, R.K.: 1992, ‘UV P Cygni Profile variability in O Stars’ in Drissen, L., Leitherer, C., Nota, A., ed(s)., Nonisotropic and Variable Outflows from Stars , ASP Conference Series, Vol. 22, 167 Google Scholar