2015/11/03 by Christopher M. P. Russell, M. F. Corcoran, Michael F. Corcoran +20
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #astro-ph.HE
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1511.01150
3 pages, 5 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the "International Workshop on Wolf-Rayet Stars", eds. W.-R. Hamann, A. Sander, and H. Todt
arxiv created 2015/11/03 · openalex publication_date 2015/11/03 · arxiv updated 2015/11/05 · openalex created_date 2024/04/11 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Colliding Wolf-Rayet (WR) winds produce thermal X-ray emission widely observed by X-ray telescopes. In wide WR+O binaries, such as WR 140, the X-ray flux is tied to the orbital phase, and is a direct probe of the winds' properties. In the Galactic center, ∼30 WRs orbit the super massive black hole (SMBH) within ∼10", leading to a smorgasbord of wind-wind collisions. To model the X-ray emission of WR 140 and the Galactic center, we perform 3D hydrodynamic simulations to trace the complex gaseous flows, and then carry out 3D radiative transfer calculations to compute the variable X-ray spectra. The model WR 140 RXTE light curve matches the data well for all phases except the X-ray minimum associated with periastron, while the model spectra agree with the RXTE hardness ratio and the shape of the Suzaku observations throughout the orbit. The Galactic center model of the Chandra flux and spectral shape match well in the region r<3", but the model flux falls off too rapidly beyond this radius.