A high-velocity transient outflow in Eta Carinae

Abstract

We analyze velocity profiles of the X-ray spectral lines emitted by the Eta Carinae stellar binary at four epochs, just before the X-ray minimum (associated with periastron) and more than two years before the minimum (~apastron). The profiles are nicely resolved by the HETGS spectrometer on board Chandra. Far from periastron, we find symmetrical lines that are more or less centered at zero velocity. Closer to periastron, the lines broaden, shift towards the blue, and become visibly asymmetric. While the quiescent X-ray emission and slight (<200 km/sec) centroid shifts can be ascribed to the ordinary continuous binary wind interaction and to the orbital velocity of the secondary star, the observed high-velocity emission up to ~2,000 km/sec and the abrupt flares during which it occurs can not. This leads us to interpret the high-velocity flaring emission as due to a fast collimated outflow of ionized gas.

Accepted by ApJ Letters

References in corpus (12)

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Cited by in corpus (11)

• 3D modelling of the colliding winds in Eta Carinae - evidence for radiative inhibition
• Spiralling out of control: 3D hydrodynamical modelling of the colliding winds in $\eta$Carinae
• Possible Implications of Mass Accretion in Eta Carinae
• Chandra X-ray Grating Spectrometry of Eta Carinae near X-ray Minimum: I. Variability of the Sulfur and Silicon Emission Lines
• Detection of high-velocity material from the wind-wind collision zone of Eta Carinae across the 2009.0 periastron passage
• Shell-Shocked: The Interstellar Medium Near Cygnus X-1
• Using X-Ray Observations to Explore the Binary Interaction in Eta Carinae
• The Orientation of the Eta Carinae Binary System
• Accretion onto the Companion of Eta Carinae During the Spectroscopic Event. V. the Infrared Decline
• The Interaction of the Eta Carinae Primary Wind with a Century Old Slow Equatorial Ejecta
• Numerical simulations of wind-equatorial gas interaction in eta Carinae