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Register a new userAnisotropic winds in Wolf-Rayet binary identify potential gamma-ray burst progenitor
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Joseph Callingham Dr
Publication date
2018
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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The massive evolved Wolf-Rayet stars sometimes occur in colliding-wind binary systems in which dust plumes are formed as a result of the collision of stellar winds. These structures are known to encode the parameters of the binary orbit and winds. Here, we report observations of a previously undiscovered Wolf-Rayet system, 2XMM J160050.7-514245, with a spectroscopically determined wind speed of $approx$3400 km s$^{-1}$. In the thermal infrared, the system is adorned with a prominent $approx$12$$ spiral dust plume, revealed by proper motion studies to be expanding at only $approx$570 km s$^{-1}$. As the dust and gas appear coeval, these observations are inconsistent with existing models of the dynamics of such colliding wind systems. We propose that this contradiction can be resolved if the system is capable of launching extremely anisotropic winds. Near-critical stellar rotation is known to drive such winds, suggesting this Wolf-Rayet system as a potential Galactic progenitor system for long-duration gamma-ray bursts.
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Using XMM-Newton, we undertook a dedicated project to search for X-ray bright wind-wind collisions in 18 WR+OB systems. We complemented these observations with Swift and Chandra datasets, allowing for the study of two additional systems. We also improved the ephemerides, for these systems displaying photometric changes, using TESS, Kepler, and ASAS-SN data. Five systems displayed a very faint X-ray emission ($log [L_{rm X}/L_{rm BOL}]<-8$) and three a faint one ($log [L_{rm X}/L_{rm BOL}]sim-7$), incompatible with typical colliding wind emission: not all WR binaries are thus X-ray bright. In a few other systems, X-rays from the O-star companion cannot be excluded as being the true source of X-rays (or a large contributor). In two additional cases, the emission appears faint but the observations were taken with the WR wind obscuring the line-of-sight, which could hide a colliding wind emission. Clear evidence of colliding winds was however found in the remaining six systems (WR19, 21, 31, 97, 105, 127). In WR19, increased absorption and larger emission at periastron are even detected, in line with expectations of adiabatic collisions.
We analyze the properties of 42 rapidly rotating, low metallicity, quasi-chemically homogeneously evolving stellar models in the mass range between 4 and 45 $,mathrm{M}_odot$ at the time of core collapse. Such models were proposed as progenitors for both superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) and long duration gamma-ray bursts (lGRBs), and the Type Ic-BL supernovae (SNe) that are associated with them. Our findings suggest that whether these models produce a magnetar driven SLSN explosion or a near-critically rotating black hole (BH) is not a monotonic function of the initial mass. Rather, their explodability varies non-monotonically depending on the late core evolution, once chemical homogeneity is broken. Using different explodability criteria we find that our models have a clear preference to produce SLSNe at lower masses, and lGRBs at higher masses; but find several exceptions, expecting lGRBs to form from stars as low as 10 $,mathrm{M}_odot$, and SLSNe with progenitors as massive as 30 $,mathrm{M}_odot$. In general, our models reproduce the predicted angular momenta, ejecta masses and magnetic field strengths at core collapse inferred for SLSNe and lGRBs, and suggest significant interaction with their circumstellar medium, particularly for explosions with low ejecta mass.
We present VLT/FORS2 time-series spectroscopy of the Wolf-Rayet star #41 in the Sculptor group galaxy NGC 300. We confirm a physical association with NGC 300 X-1, since radial velocity variations of the HeII 4686 line indicate an orbital period of 32.3 +/- 0.2 hr which agrees at the 2 sigma level with the X-ray period from Carpano et al. We measure a radial velocity semi-amplitude of 267 +/- 8 km/s, from which a mass function of 2.6 +/- 0.3 Msun is obtained. A revised spectroscopic mass for the WN-type companion of 26+7-5 Msun yields a black hole mass of 20 +/- 4 Msun for a preferred inclination of 60-75 deg. If the WR star provides half of the measured visual continuum flux, a reduced WR (black hole) mass of 15 +4 -2.5 Msun (14.5 +3 -2.5 Msun) would be inferred. As such, #41/NGC 300 X-1 represents only the second extragalactic Wolf-Rayet plus black-hole binary system, after IC 10 X-1. In addition, the compact object responsible for NGC 300 X-1 is the second highest stellar-mass black hole known to date, exceeded only by IC 10 X-1.
With a deep Chandra/HETGS exposure of WR 6, we have resolved emission lines whose profiles show that the X-rays originate from a uniformly expanding spherical wind of high X-ray-continuum optical depth. The presence of strong helium-like forbidden lines places the source of X-ray emission at tens to hundreds of stellar radii from the photosphere. Variability was present in X-rays and simultaneous optical photometry, but neither were correlated with the known period of the system or with each other. An enhanced abundance of sodium revealed nuclear processed material, a quantity related to the evolutionary state of the star. The characterization of the extent and nature of the hot plasma in WR 6 will help to pave the way to a more fundamental theoretical understanding of the winds and evolution of massive stars.
The long gamma ray bursts (GRBs) may arise from the core collapse of massive stars. However, the long GRB rate does not follow the star formation rate (SFR) at high redshifts. In this Letter, we focus on the binary merger model and consider the high spin helium stars after the merger as the progenitor of long GRBs. With this scenario, we estimate the GRB rate by the population synthesis method with the metallicity evolution. Low metallicity binaries are easier to become long GRB progenitors than those for solar metallicity due to the weak wind mass loss and the difference in the stellar evolution. In our results, the long GRB rate roughly agrees with the observed rate, and shows a similar behavior to the observed redshift evolution.
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