3D Radiative Transfer in $\eta$ Carinae: Application of the SimpleX Algorithm to 3D SPH Simulations of Binary Colliding Winds

Abstract

Eta Carinae is an ideal astrophysical laboratory for studying massive binary interactions and evolution, and stellar wind-wind collisions. Recent three-dimensional (3D) simulations set the stage for understanding the highly complex 3D flows in $\eta$ Car. Observations of different broad high- and low-ionization forbidden emission lines provide an excellent tool to constrain the orientation of the system, the primary's mass-loss rate, and the ionizing flux of the hot secondary. In this work we present the first steps towards generating synthetic observations to compare with available and future HST/STIS data. We present initial results from full 3D radiative transfer simulations of the interacting winds in $\eta$ Car. We use the SimpleX algorithm to post-process the output from 3D SPH simulations and obtain the ionization fractions of hydrogen and helium assuming three different mass-loss rates for the primary star. The resultant ionization maps of both species constrain the regions where the observed forbidden emission lines can form. Including collisional ionization is necessary to achieve a better description of the ionization states, especially in the areas shielded from the secondary's radiation. We find that reducing the primary's mass-loss rate increases the volume of ionized gas, creating larger areas where the forbidden emission lines can form. We conclude that post processing 3D SPH data with SimpleX is a viable tool to create ionization maps for $\eta$ Car.

arXiv comment18 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (39)

• A new calibration of stellar parameters of Galactic O stars
• Physical Properties of Wolf-Rayet Stars
• A dusty pinwheel nebula around the massive star WR 104
• The Structure of the Homunculus: I. Shape and Latitude Dependence from H2 and [Fe II] Velocity Maps of Eta Carinae
• The Astrophysical Multipurpose Software Environment
• In Hot Pursuit of the Hidden Companion of Eta Carinae: An X-ray Determination of the Wind Parameters
• The periodicity of the eta Carinae events
• An Exact Integration Scheme for Radiative Cooling in Hydrodynamical Simulations
• Pinwheel nebula around WR 98a
• TRAPHIC - Radiative Transfer for Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics Simulations
• 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
• High-excitation emission lines near eta Carinae, and its likely companion star
• The UV Scattering Halo of the Central Source Associated with Eta Carinae
• The Binarity of Eta Carinae Revealed from Photoionization Modeling of the Spectral Variability of the Weigelt Blobs B and D
• The 2003 Shell Event in eta Carinae
• Constraining the Absolute Orientation of Eta Carinae's Binary Orbit: A 3-D Dynamical Model for the Broad [Fe III] Emission
• Constraints on decreases in Eta Carinae's mass loss from 3D hydrodynamic simulations of its binary colliding winds
• X-ray Spectral Variation of Eta Carinae through the 2003 X-ray Minimum
• A multispectral view of the periodic events in eta Carinae
• Modeling the RXTE light curve of $\eta$ Carinae from a 3-D SPH simulation of its binary wind collision
• On the influence of the companion star in Eta Carinae: 2D radiative transfer modeling of the ultraviolet and optical spectra
• The escape of ionising radiation from high-redshift dwarf galaxies
• Relativistic Ionization Fronts
• Chandra X-ray Grating Spectrometry of Eta Carinae near X-ray Minimum: I. Variability of the Sulfur and Silicon Emission Lines
• He II 4686 in eta Carinae: collapse of the wind-wind collision region during periastron passage
• Detection of high-velocity material from the wind-wind collision zone of Eta Carinae across the 2009.0 periastron passage
• Secular Changes in Eta Carinae's Wind 1998-2011
• SimpleX2: radiative transfer on an unstructured, dynamic grid
• Spectroscopic study of the long-period dust-producing WC7pd+O9 binary HD192641
• Critical Differences and Clues in Eta Car's 2009 Event
• Near-infrared integral field spectroscopy of the Homunculus nebula around Eta Carinae using Gemini/CIRPASS
• Imaging with HST the time evolution of Eta Carinae's colliding winds
• Transport on Adaptive Random Lattices
• A Lighthouse Effect in Eta Carinae
• Self Regulated Shocks in Massive Star Binary Systems
• Dust formation by the colliding-wind WC5+O9 binary WR19 at periastron passage
• Detection of the compressed primary stellar wind in eta Carinae
• Mathematical properties of the SimpleX algorithm

Cited by in corpus (15)

• Simulating the formation of $\eta$ Carinae's surrounding nebula through unstable triple evolution and stellar merger-induced eruption
• He II $\lambda$4686 emission from the massive binary system in $\eta$ Car: constraints to the orbital elements and the nature of the periodic minima
• The fossil wind structures of Eta Carinae: changes across on 5.54-year cycle
• 3D radiative transfer simulations of Eta Carinae's inner colliding winds - I. Ionization structure of helium at apastron
• To $v_{\infty }$ and beyond! The He I absorption variability across the 2014.6 periastron passage of $\eta$ Carinae
• 3D Printing Meets Computational Astrophysics: Deciphering the Structure of Eta Carinae's Inner Colliding Winds
• Radiation transport methods in star formation simulations
• 3D radiative transfer simulations of Eta Carinae's inner colliding winds - II: Ionization structure of helium at periastron
• Eta Carinae's Declining Outflow Seen in the UV, 2002-2015
• Fast and accurate Voronoi density gridding from Lagrangian hydrodynamics data
• The X-ray properties of Eta Carinae during its 2020 X-ray minimum
• $\eta$ Carinae: high angular resolution continuum, H30$\alpha$ and He30$\alpha$ ALMA images
• A Case Study in Astronomical 3-D Printing: The Mysterious Eta Carinae
• Probing cosmic ray escape from η Carinae
• Telluric absorption lines in the ALMA spectra of $\eta$ Car