THE XMM-NEWTON/EPIC X-RAY LIGHT CURVE ANALYSIS OF WR 6
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN 37663 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52245 (United States)
- Institute for Physics and Astronomy, University Potsdam, D-14476 Potsdam (Germany)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, 70 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)
- European Space Agency XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre, European Space Astronomy Centre, Apartado 78, Villanueva de la Cañada, E-28691 Madrid (Spain)
We obtained four pointings of over 100 ks each of the well-studied Wolf-Rayet star WR 6 with the XMM-Newton satellite. With a first paper emphasizing the results of spectral analysis, this follow-up highlights the X-ray variability clearly detected in all four pointings. However, phased light curves fail to confirm obvious cyclic behavior on the well-established 3.766 day period widely found at longer wavelengths. The data are of such quality that we were able to conduct a search for event clustering in the arrival times of X-ray photons. However, we fail to detect any such clustering. One possibility is that X-rays are generated in a stationary shock structure. In this context we favor a corotating interaction region (CIR) and present a phenomenological model for X-rays from a CIR structure. We show that a CIR has the potential to account simultaneously for the X-ray variability and constraints provided by the spectral analysis. Ultimately, the viability of the CIR model will require both intermittent long-term X-ray monitoring of WR 6 and better physical models of CIR X-ray production at large radii in stellar winds.
- OSTI ID:
- 22270916
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 775, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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