Observations of Binary and Single Wolf-Rayet Stars with XMM-Newton and Chandra

Abstract

We present an overview of recent X-ray observations of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars with XMM-Newton and Chandra. A new XMM spectrum of the nearby WN8 + OB binary WR 147 shows hard absorbed X-ray emission, including the Fe K-alpha line complex, characteristic of colliding wind shock sources. In contrast, sensitive observations of four of the closest known single WC (carbon-rich) WR stars have yielded only non-detections. These results tentatively suggest that single WC stars are X-ray quiet. The presence of a companion may thus be an essential factor in elevating the X-ray emission of WC + OB stars to detectable levels.

To appear in conf. proceedings: Close Binaries in the 21st Century - New Opportunities and Challenges, eds. A. Gimenez, E. Guinan, P. Niarchos, S. Rucinski; Astrophys. and Space Sci. (special issue), 2006. 4 pages, 2 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Wind clumping and the wind-wind collision zone in the Wolf-Rayet binary gamma Velorum
• Chandra X-ray Observations of the Young Stellar Cluster NGC 6193 in the Ara OB1 Association
• High-Resolution X-ray Imaging of the Colliding Wind Shock in WR147
• Spatially resolved STIS spectra of WR+OB binaries with colliding winds

Cited by in corpus (24)

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• Near-infrared counterparts to Chandra X-ray sources toward the Galactic Center. II. Discovery of Wolf-Rayet stars and O supergiants
• X-ray emission from interacting massive binaries: a review of 15 years of progress
• Red Eyes on Wolf-Rayet Stars: 60 New Discoveries via Infrared Color Selection
• X-ray Emission from Nitrogen-Type Wolf-Rayet Stars
• A Chandra Study of the Rosette Star-Forming Complex. II. Clusters in the Rosette Molecular Cloud
• A spectroscopic multiplicity survey of Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars. I. The northern WC sequence
• X-rays from Colliding Stellar Winds: the case of close WR+O binary systems
• Discovery of X-ray Emission from the Wolf-Rayet star WR142 of oxygen subtype
• New X-ray Detections of WNL Stars
• Discovery of hot supergiant stars near the Galactic center
• A Chandra X-ray study of the young star cluster NGC 6231: low-mass population and initial mass function
• XMM-Newton Observations Reveal Very High X-ray Luminosity from the Carbon-rich Wolf-Rayet Star WR 48a
• Chandra Detects the Rare Oxygen-type Wolf-Rayet Star WR 142 and OB Stars in Berkeley 87
• A Near-Infrared Survey of the Inner Galactic Plane for Wolf-Rayet Stars III. New Methods: Faintest WR Stars
• A Chandra Grating Observation of the Dusty Wolf-Rayet Star WR48a
• New X-ray detections of known Wolf-Rayet stars
• A Chandra Observation of the Eclipsing Wolf-Rayet Binary CQ Cep
• X-rays from the colliding wind binary WR 146
• X-rays from the oxygen-type Wolf-Rayet binary WR30a
• X-rays from the episodic dust maker WR 137
• Chandra revisits WR48a: testing colliding wind models in massive binaries
• High Energy Processes in Wolf-Rayet Stars