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Deriving X-ray Line Profiles for Massive-Star Winds from Momentum-Conserving Dynamical Working Surface Solutions
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Deriving X-ray Line Profiles for Massive-Star Winds from Momentum-Conserving Dynamical Working Surface Solutions

Sean J Gunderson and Kenneth G Gayley
arXiv.org
Cornell University
04/09/2024
DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2404.06590
url
https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2404.06590View
Preprint (Author's original)This preprint has not been evaluated by subject experts through peer review. Preprints may undergo extensive changes and/or become peer-reviewed journal articles. Open Access

Abstract

We present a general procedure for deriving a line profile model for massive star X-ray spectra that captures the dynamics of the wind more directly. The basis of the model is the analytic solution to the problem of variable jets in Herbig-Haro objects given by \citet{Canto2000}. In deriving our model, we generalize this jet solution to include flows with a prescribed nonzero acceleration for the context of radiatively driven winds. We provide example line profiles generated from our model for the case of sinusoidal velocity and mass ejection variations. The example profiles show the expected shape of massive star X-ray emission lines, as well as interesting but complicated trends with the model parameters. This establishes the possibility that observed X-rays could be a result of temporal variations seeded at the wind base, rather than purely generated intrinsically within the wind volume, and can be described via a quantitative language that connects with the physical attributes of those variations, consistently with the downstream momentum-conserving nature of radiatively cooled shocked radial flows.
Physics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Physics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

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