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- X-ray Modeling of eta-Carinae & WR140 from SPH Simulations
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X-ray Modeling of eta-Carinae & WR140 from SPH Simulations
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Abstract
The colliding wind binary (CWB) systems eta-Carinae and WR140 provide unique laboratories for X-ray astrophysics. Their wind-wind collisions produce hard X-rays that have been monitored extensively by several X-ray telescopes, including RXTE. To interpret these RXTE X-ray light curves, we model the windwind collision using 3D smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations. Adiabatic simulations that account for the emission and absorption of X-rays from an assumed point source at the apex of the wind-collision shock cone by the distorted winds can closely match the observed 2-10keV RXTE light curves of both eta-Car and WR140. This point-source model can also explain the early recovery of eta-Car’s X-ray light curve from the 2009.0 minimum by a factor of 2-4 reduction in the mass loss rate of eta-Car. Our more recent models relax the point-source approximation and account for the spatially extended emission along the wind-wind interaction shock front. For WR140, the computed X-ray light curve again matches the RXTE observations quite well. But for eta-Car, a hot, post-periastron bubble leads to an emission level that does not match the extended X-ray minimum observed by RXTE. Initial results from incorporating radiative cooling and radiatively-driven wind acceleration via a new anti-gravity approach into the SPH code are also discussed.
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About: Christopher M. P. Russell
University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
About: Michael F. Corcoran
NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, MD, USA
About: Atsuo T. Okazaki
Hokkai-Gakuen University, Sapporo, Japan
About: Thomas I. Madura
University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
About: Stanley P. Owocki
University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA