Modelling the Radio Light Curve of Eta Carinae

Abstract

We study the propagation of the ionizing radiation emitted by the secondary star in Eta Carinae. We find that a large fraction of this radiation is absorbed by the primary stellar wind, mainly after it encounters the secondary wind and passes through a shock wave. The amount of absorption depends on the compression factor of the primary wind in the shock wave. We build a model where the compression factor is limited by the magnetic pressure in the primary wind. We find that the variation of the absorption by the post-shock primary wind with orbital phase changes the ionization structure of the circumbinary gas and can account for the radio light curve of Eta Car. Fast variations near periastron passage are attributed to the onset of the accretion phase.

Accepted by MNRAS

References in corpus (4)

• Radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray Emission Models of the Colliding Winds Binary WR 140
• The UV Scattering Halo of the Central Source Associated with Eta Carinae
• Accretion onto the Companion of Eta Carinae During the Spectroscopic Event: III. the He II 4686 Line
• Variable Unidentified Emission Near 6307 AA in Eta Carinae

Cited by in corpus (8)

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• The Orientation of the Eta Carinae Binary System
• Accretion onto the Companion of Eta Carinae During the Spectroscopic Event. V. the Infrared Decline
• VLTI-AMBER velocity-resolved aperture-synthesis imaging of Eta Carinae with a spectral resolution of 12000. Studies of the primary star wind and innermost wind-wind collision
• Accretion in the Binary System GG Carinae and Implications for B[e] Supergiants