We investigate the physical properties of large-scale wind structures around massive hot stars with radiatively-driven winds. We observe Discrete Absorption Components (DACs) in optical He I P Cygni lines of the LBV binary MWC 314 (Porb=60.8 d). The
DACs are observed during orbital phases when the primary is in front of the secondary star. They appear at wind velocities between -100 km/s and -600 km/s in the P Cyg profiles of He I lam5875, lam6678, and lam4471, signaling high-temperature expanding wind regions of enhanced density and variable outflow velocity. The DACs can result from wave propagation linked to the orbital motion near the low-velocity wind base. The He I lines indicate DAC formation close to the primarys surface in high-temperature wind regions in front of its orbit, or in dynamical wind regions confined between the binary stars. We observed the DACs with Mercator-HERMES on 5 Sep 2009, 5 May 2012, and 6 May 2014 when the primary is in front of the secondary star. XMM-Newton observations of 6 May 2014 significantly detected MWC 314 in X-rays at an average rate of ~0.015 cts/s.
We present a spectroscopic analysis of MWC 314, a luminous blue variable (LBV) candidate with an extended bipolar nebula. The detailed spectroscopic variability is investigated to determine if MWC 314 is a massive binary system with a supersonically
accelerating wind or a low-mass B[e] star. We compare the spectrum and spectral energy distribution to other LBVs (such as P Cyg) and find very similar physical wind properties, indicating strong kinship. We combined long-term high-resolution optical spectroscopic monitoring and V-band photometric observations to determine the orbital elements and stellar parameters and to investigate the spectral variability with the orbital phases. We developed an advanced model of the large-scale wind-velocity and wind-density structure with 3-D radiative transfer calculations that fit the orbitally modulated P Cyg profile of He I lam5876, showing outflow velocities above 1000 km/s. We find that MWC 314 is a massive semi-detached binary system of ~1.22 AU, observed at an inclination angle of i=72.8 deg. with an orbital period of 60.8 d and e=0.23. The primary star is a low-vsini LBV candidate of m1=39.6 Msun and R1=86.8 Rsun. The detailed radiative transfer fits show that the geometry of wind density is asymmetric around the primary star with increased wind density by a factor of 3.3, which leads the orbit of the primary. The variable orientation causes the orbital modulation that is observed in absorption portions of P Cyg wind lines. Wind accretion in the system produces a circumbinary disc. MWC 314 is in a crucial evolutionary phase of close binary systems, when the massive primary star has its H envelope being stripped and is losing mass to a circumbinary disc. MWC 314 is a key system for studying the evolutionary consequences of these effects.
We develop a new method to determine oscillator strength values of atomic absorption lines with state-of-the-art detailed spectral synthesis calculations of the optical spectrum of the Sun and of standard spectral reference stars. We update the log(g
f)-values of 911 neutral lines observed in the KPNO-FTS flux spectrum of the Sun and high-resolution echelle spectra (R=80,000) of Procyon (F5 IV-V) and {epsilon} Eri (K2 V) observed with large signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios of ~2,000 using the new Mercator-Hermes spectrograph at La Palma Observatory (Spain). We find for 483 Fe I, 85 Ni I, and 51 Si I absorption lines in the sample a systematic over-estimation of the literature log(gf)-values with central line depths below 15 %. We employ a curve-of-growth analysis technique to test the accuracy of the new oscillator strength values and compare calculated equivalent line widths to the Moore, Minnaert, & Houtgast atlas of the Sun. The online SpectroWeb database at http://spectra.freeshell.org interactively displays the observed and synthetic spectra and provides the new log(gf)-values together with important atomic line data. The graphical database is under development for stellar reference spectra of every spectral sub-class observed with large spectral resolution and S/N ratios.
We develop 3-D models of the structured winds of massive hot stars with the Wind3D radiative transfer (RT) code. We investigate the physical properties of large-scale structures observed in the wind of the B-type supergiant HD 64760 with detailed lin
e profile fits to Discrete Absorption Components (DACs) and rotational modulations observed with IUE in Si IV {lambda}1395. We develop parameterized input models Wind3D with large-scale equatorial wind density- and velocity-structures, or so-called `Co-rotating Interaction Regions (CIRs) and `Rotational Modulation Regions (RMRs). The parameterized models offer important advantages for high-performance RT calculations over ab-initio hydrodynamic input models. The acceleration of the input model calculations permits us to simulate and investigate a wide variety of physical conditions in the extended winds of massive hot stars. The new modeling method is very flexible for constraining the dynamic and geometric wind properties of RMRs in HD 64760. We compute that the modulations are produced by a regular pattern of radial density enhancements that protrude almost linearly into the equatorial wind. We find that the modulations are caused by narrow `spoke-like wind regions. We present a hydrodynamic model showing that the linearly shaped radial wind pattern can be caused by mechanical wave action at the base of the stellar wind from the blue supergiant.
We present results of a long-term spectroscopic monitoring program (since mid 2009) of Luminous Blue Variables with the new HERMES echelle spectrograph on the 1.2 m Mercator telescope at La Palma (Spain). We investigate high-resolution (R=80,000) opt
ical spectra of two LBVs, P Cyg and HD 168607, the LBV candidates MWC 930 and HD 168625, and the LBV binary MWC 314. In P Cyg we observe flux changes in the violet wings of the Balmer H{alpha}, H{beta}, and He I lines between May and Sep 2009. The changes around 200 km/s to 300 km/s are caused by variable opacity at the base of the supersonic wind from the blue supergiant. We observe in MWC 314 broad double-peaked metal emission lines with invariable radial velocities over time. On the other hand, we measure in the photospheric S II {lambda}5647 absorption line, with lower excitation energy of ~14 eV, an increase of the heliocentric radial velocity centroid from 37 km/s to 70 km/s between 5 and 10 Sep 2009 (and 43 km/s on 6 Apr 2010). The increase of radial velocity of ~33 km/s in only 5 days can confirm the binary nature of this LBV close to the Eddington luminosity limit. A comparison with VLT-UVES and Keck-Hires spectra observed over the past 13 years reveals strong flux variability in the violet wing of the H{alpha} emission line of HD 168625, and in the absorption portion of the H{beta} line of HD 168607. In HD 168625 we observe H{alpha} wind absorption at velocities exceeding 200 km/s which develops between Apr and June 2010.
We discuss the development of the new radiative transfer code Wind3D. It solves the non-LTE radiative transport problem in moving stellar atmosphere models in three geometric dimensions. The code accepts arbitrary 3D velocity fields in Cartesian geom
etry without assumptions of axial symmetry. Wind3D is currently implemented as a fully parallelized (exact) accelerated lambda iteration scheme with a two level atom formulation. The numerical transfer scheme is efficient and very accurate to trace small variations of local velocity gradients on line opacity in strongly scattering dominated extended stellar winds. We investigate the detailed formation of P Cygni line profiles observed in ultraviolet spectra of massive stars. We compute the detailed shape of these resonance lines to model local enhancements of line opacity that can for instance be caused by clumping in supersonically expanding winds. Wind3D will be applied to hydrodynamic models to investigate physical properties of discrete absorption line components.
