Context. HD 150136 is a triple hierarchical system and a non-thermal radio emitter. It is formed by an O3-3.5 V + O5.5-6 V close binary and a more distant O6.5-7 V tertiary. So far, only the inner orbital properties have been reliably constrained.
Aims. To quantitatively understand the non-thermal emission process, accurate knowledge of the physical and orbital properties of the object is crucial. Here, we aim to investigate the orbital properties of the wide system and to constrain the inclinations of the inner and outer binaries, and with these the absolute masses of the system components. Methods. We used the PIONIER combiner at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer to obtain the very first interferometric measurements of HD 150136. We combined the interferometric observations with new and existing high resolution spectroscopic data to derive the orbital solution of the outer companion in the three-dimensional space. Results. The wide system is clearly resolved by PIONIER, with a projected separation on the plane of the sky of about 9 milli-arcsec. The best-fit orbital period, eccentricity, and inclination are 8.2 yr, 0.73 and 108 degr. We constrain the masses of the three stars of the system to 63 +/- 10, 40 +/- 6, and 33 +/- 12 Msun for the O3-3.5 V, O5.5-6 V and O6.5-7 V components. Conclusions. The dynamical masses agree within errors with the evolutionary masses of the components. Future interferometric and spectroscopic monitoring of HD 150136 should allow one to reduce the uncertainties to a few per cent only and to accurately constrain the distance to the system. This makes HD 150136 an ideal system to quantitatively test evolutionary models of high-mass stars as well as the physics of non-thermal processes occurring in O-type systems.
Our goal is to determine the stellar and wind properties of seven O stars in the cluster NGC2244 and three O stars in the OB association MonOB2. These properties give us insight into the mass loss rates of O stars, allow us to check the validity of r
otational mixing in massive stars, and to better understand the effects of the ionizing flux and wind mechanical energy release on the surrounding interstellar medium and its influence on triggered star formation. We collect optical and UV spectra of the target stars which are analyzed by means of atmosphere models computed with the code CMFGEN. The spectra of binary stars are disentangled and the components are studied separately. All stars have an evolutionary age less than 5 million years, with the most massive stars being among the youngest. Nitrogen surface abundances show no clear relation with projected rotational velocities. Binaries and single stars show the same range of enrichment. This is attributed to the youth and/or wide separation of the binary systems in which the components have not (yet) experienced strong interaction. A clear trend of larger enrichment in higher luminosity objects is observed, consistent with what evolutionary models with rotation predict for a population of O stars at a given age. We confirm the weakness of winds in late O dwarfs. In general, mass loss rates derived from UV lines are lower than mass loss rates obtained from Ha. The UV mass loss rates are even lower than the single line driving limit in the latest type dwarfs. These issues are discussed in the context of the structure of massive stars winds. The evolutionary and spectroscopic masses are in agreement above 25 Msun but the uncertainties are large. Below this threshold, the few late-type O stars studied here indicate that the mass discrepancy still seems to hold.
The detection of pulsational frequencies in stellar photometry is required as input for asteroseismological modelling. The second short run (SRa02) of the CoRoT mission has provided photometric data of unprecedented quality and time-coverage for a nu
mber of O-type stars. We analyse the CoRoT data corresponding to three hot O-type stars, describing the properties of their light curves and we search for pulsational frequencies, which we then compare to theoretical model predictions. We determine the amplitude spectrum of the data, using the Lomb-Scargle and a multifrequency HMM-like technique. Frequencies are extracted by prewhitening, and their significance is evaluated under the assumption that the light curve is dominated by red noise. We search for harmonics, linear combinations and regular spacings among these frequencies. We use simulations with the same time sampling as the data as a powerful tool to judge the significance of our results. From the theoretical point of view, we use the MAD non-adiabatic pulsation code to determine the expected frequencies of excited modes. A substantial number of frequencies is listed, but none can be convincingly identified as being connected to pulsations. The amplitude spectrum is dominated by red noise. Theoretical modelling shows that all three O-type stars can have excited modes but the relation between the theoretical frequencies and the observed spectrum is not obvious. The dominant red noise component in the hot O-type stars studied here clearly points to a different origin than the pulsations seen in cooler O stars. The physical cause of this red noise is unclear, but we speculate on the possibility of sub-surface convection, granulation, or stellar wind inhomogeneities being responsible.
