2006/09/13 by Ben Davies, J. S. Vink, Davies, Ben +5
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #FOS: Physical sciences #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0609368
8 pages, 6 figs, to appear in proceedings of 'Mass loss from stars and the evolution of stellar clusters'
arxiv created 2006/09/13 · openalex publication_date 2006/09/13 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The topic of wind-clumping has been the subject of much activity in recent years, due to the impact that it can have on derived mass-loss rates. Here we present an alternative method of investigating wind-clumping, that of polarimetry. We present simulations of the polarization produced by a clumpy wind, and argue that the observations may be reproduced just by statistical deviations from spherical symmetry when the outflow is only slightly fragmented. Here, the polarization scales with M, which is consistent with observations of LBVs, WRs and O supergiants. Finally, we find clumping factors in the inner 2R⋆ of ∼ 2-3, and speculate as to the clumping stratification of hot stars.