Colliding Winds and Dust Shells: Resolving Wolf-Rayet Binary Stars
Faculty Mentor Name
Noel Richardson
Format Preference
Poster
Abstract
Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars are massive stars that have lost their outer hydrogen layers and often are rich in carbon. When in systems with multiple high massloss rate stars, such as O stars, the colliding winds between the stars can be linked to dust formation. One of the WRs of particular interest is CV Serpentis, which is a binary star system consisting of a WR and an O star. The stars eclipse and orbit each other in a circular path, but a deeper analysis shows that only some of the wavelengths of light decrease in intensity during eclipses and that the dust formed by the stars clump unpredictably instead being distributed in a spiral. To explain those strange behaviors, we are analyzing the spectra in hopes of finding that the velocities of the stars orbiting each other has changed over time. That discovery would indicate that there is a third, previously unknown star in the system. Other stars we research are WR112, WR48a, WR125, and WR137. Each of those star systems have O star partners, and interactions between the O star and the WR star via shock waves creates shells of dust. Out of these four, only one of them has had an in-depth modelling of its dust's positions and densities. Simulating the dust's behavior can give information about the temperature of the WR star, the velocity of the stellar wind, and the mass of the dust. These attributes link back to being able to discover the origins of the dust, including how exactly and where it gets formed, which is a massive unknown amongst many WR stars.
Colliding Winds and Dust Shells: Resolving Wolf-Rayet Binary Stars
Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars are massive stars that have lost their outer hydrogen layers and often are rich in carbon. When in systems with multiple high massloss rate stars, such as O stars, the colliding winds between the stars can be linked to dust formation. One of the WRs of particular interest is CV Serpentis, which is a binary star system consisting of a WR and an O star. The stars eclipse and orbit each other in a circular path, but a deeper analysis shows that only some of the wavelengths of light decrease in intensity during eclipses and that the dust formed by the stars clump unpredictably instead being distributed in a spiral. To explain those strange behaviors, we are analyzing the spectra in hopes of finding that the velocities of the stars orbiting each other has changed over time. That discovery would indicate that there is a third, previously unknown star in the system. Other stars we research are WR112, WR48a, WR125, and WR137. Each of those star systems have O star partners, and interactions between the O star and the WR star via shock waves creates shells of dust. Out of these four, only one of them has had an in-depth modelling of its dust's positions and densities. Simulating the dust's behavior can give information about the temperature of the WR star, the velocity of the stellar wind, and the mass of the dust. These attributes link back to being able to discover the origins of the dust, including how exactly and where it gets formed, which is a massive unknown amongst many WR stars.