A&A 457, 1003-1010 (2006)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20064935
A. Skopal
Astronomical Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, 059 60 Tatranská Lomnica, Slovakia
Received 30 January 2006 / Accepted 10 July 2006
Abstract
Aims. To model broad H wings observed in symbiotic binaries by an optically thin, bipolar stellar wind from their hot components as an alternative to that considering the Raman scattering of Ly
photons on atomic hydrogen.
Methods. Profile-fitting analysis. Comparison of the observed broad H wings and their luminosity with those predicted by the model.
Results. Synthetic H profiles fit excellently the observed wings for
200 km s-1 in our sample of 10 symbiotic stars during the quiescent as well as active phases. The wing profile formed in the stellar wind can be approximated by a function
,
which is of the same type as that arising from the Raman scattering. Therefore it is not possible to distinguish between these two processes only by modeling the line profile. Some observational characteristics of the H
-emission, its relationship with the emission measure of the symbiotic nebula and a steep radio spectrum at 1.4-15 GHz suggest the ionized stellar wind from the hot component to be the dominant source contributing to the H
wings during active phases. The model corresponding mass-loss rates from the hot components are of a few
and of a few
during quiescent and active phases, respectively.
Key words: stars: binaries: symbiotics - stars: mass-loss - stars: winds, outflows
Van Winckel et al. (1993) and Ivison et al. (1994) presented a large survey of high-
and low-resolution H line profiles of symbiotic stars.
The profiles showed broad wings, in most cases extended well
within the presented wavelength range of 6540-6580 Å.
Their origin has been investigated by number of authors.
A popular interpretation assumes Raman scattering of Ly
photons on atomic hydrogen to be responsible for filling in
the broad H
wings. This possibility was firstly pointed out
by Nussbaumer et al. (1989) and the corresponding quantitative model was
elaborated by Lee (2000) and Lee & Hyung (2000).
Other possibilities for the H
wing formation mechanism -
rotating disks, electron scattering, fast stellar wind
and H
damping wings - were also discussed.
Robinson et al. (1994) modeled the H
profiles on the assumption
that they originate in an accretion disk. Acceptable fits
were found only for CH Cyg, AG Dra and T CrB.
Generally, the model wings were broader than the observed ones.
The possibility of the electron scattering was analyzed by
Arrieta & Torres-Peimbert (2003) for a representative case of M2-9. They
found unrealistically high values of the electron temperature
and concentration for the electron-scattering region.
Concerning to the H
damping wings there is no
elaborated application for symbiotic binaries. Lee (2000)
only discussed briefly this possibility for the case of SY Mus
(Schmutz et al. 1994). He came to conclusion that the wing emission
arises in a much more extended region then that producing
the line core.
Skopal et al. (2002) modeled the extended H
wings from
active phases of CH Cyg by a spherically symmetric and
optically thin stellar wind. A comparison between the modeled
and observed profiles was satisfactory and also the derived
mass-loss rate was in agreement with that suggested by the radio
observations. Therefore we propose the fast stellar wind from
the hot component in symbiotic binaries to be the most
promising alternative to that considering the Raman scattering
process.
Accordingly, in Sect. 2 we introduce a model of a bipolar
stellar wind at the optically thin limit to calculate the
broad H wings.
In Sect. 3 we compare our model profiles with those observed
during quiescent and active phases of selected symbiotic stars.
In Sect. 4 we discuss observational characteristics of H
profiles connected with the hot star wind.
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Figure 1:
Geometry of the wind model we used to calculate the line
profile of H![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Here we summarize main observational features of a mass
outflow indicated for active symbiotic stars. They are:
(i)
broadening of emission line profiles and/or the P-Cygni
type of profiles represent direct indications of
a mass-flow from the star. Typical velocities are a few
hundred of km s-1 (e.g. Skopal et al. 1997; Fernández-Castro et al. 1995; Nussbaumer et al. 1995);
(ii)
a significant enhancement of the nebular emission in the
continuum by a factor of 10 relatively to quiescent
phases (Skopal 2005, Tables 3 and 4) can in part result from
a supplement of new emitters into the particle bounded nebula,
for example, due to an increase in the mass-loss rate from
the active object;
(iii)
the radio light curves usually show a decline at beginnings
of outbursts with an increase after the optical maximum
(e.g. Fernández-Castro et al. 1995; Brocksopp et al. 2004). In some cases evolution from
a point source to a spatial structure was observed
(e.g. CH Cyg and Z And: Brocksopp et al. 2004; Kenny et al. 1996). This can be
a result of a high-velocity mass-outflow, which gradually
becomes optically thin at radio wavelengths. Velocities from
a few hundred of km s-1 to
km s-1 can be derived
from images (e.g. CH Cyg, Crocker et al. 2002,2001);
(iv)
the X-ray emission can be also explained by interaction of
the outflowing material with surrounding nebular gas.
The extended X-ray emission in the CH Cyg Chandra image
was aligned with the optical and radio jets (Galloway & Sokoloski 2004).
Thus the velocities connected with the X-ray emission
can be similar to those derived from the radio.
For Z And, Sokoloski et al. (2006) ascribed the X-ray emission from
its major 2000-03 outburst to the shock-heated plasma as
a consequence of the mass ejection from the white dwarf;
(v)
emission line profiles of forbidden lines from highly ionized
atoms can be produced by the wind-wind collision zone in a
binary system (e.g. Eriksson et al. 2004; Wallerstein et al. 1984).
Aspects of the wind-dynamics including colliding winds in
symbiotic binaries were reviewed by Walder & Folini (2000).
Finally, we note that different features of the outflowing
material in the spectrum can reflect different driving
mechanisms. For example, ejected
rings or shells produce broad profiles with rather steep sides
of all lines (FWHM
FWZI). Classical novae
1494 Aql and V475 Sct demonstrate this case
(Eyres et al. 2005; Chochol et al. 2005).
For a star with a spherically symmetric and optically thin
wind, the line emissivity is proportional to the square of
the particle concentration, which is diluted with the radial
distance r as 1/r2. In this case a strong line core,
originating in the vicinity of the wind source, is accompanied
with faint extended wings from large distances (FWHM
FWZI).
In the following model we consider this case.
Table 1:
Parameters of H models (
,
,
),
observed luminosities and corresponding mass-loss
rates (
)
and emission measures (
)
of the
hot star wind.
(200) denotes the luminosity of the
H
wings for
km s-1, while
is the total line luminosity. Distances are from Skopal (2005).
The geometry of our wind model is introduced in Fig. 1.
The model assumes an optically thin stellar wind with a
spherically symmetric structure and the origin at/around
the central star.
According to Skopal (2005) we put an optically thick
disk/torus, characterized with the height H and radius ,
to the center of the hot object. We assume
the disk to be seen edge-on due to a high orbital inclination.
The outer rim of the disk cut out the angle
2
from a sphere with the center at the accretor, and by
this way simulates bipolar shape of the stellar wind with
the opening angle
radians (Fig. 1 left).
The wind with this geometry produces line profiles that are
symmetrical with respect to the reference wavelength (
).
We assume that the particle concentration n(r) at any point
in the wind is related to the mass loss rate
and
the velocity v(r) via the mass continuity equation, i.e.
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(1) |
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(2) |
In our simplified approach we assume that the wind is fully
ionized and completely optically thin in H with a steady
mass-loss rate.
The optically thin case is supported by the large velocity
gradient in the stellar wind, because of its large terminal
velocity (
,
where
is
the thermal velocity). If a line photon, created by
recombination in such a wind, has traveled a distance
,
it is Doppler shifted with
respect to the surrounding gas by more than 2
and
thus cannot be absorbed any more in the same line transition
(e.g. Lamers & Cassinelli 1999).
Under such conditions the escape probability of the emitted
photons will be close to 1. However the optically thin condition
can be attained only at large distances from the source of
the wind.
A good agreement between the observed and modeled profiles
for
200 km s-1 (see below, Fig. 3) suggests
the validity of the optically thin regime from about
(Eq. (2) and parameters from Table 1).
The total line luminosity,
), is related
to the line emissivity of the wind,
,
by
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(3) |
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(4) |
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(5) |
I1 | = | ![]() |
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= | ![]() |
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= | ![]() |
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= | ![]() |
(6) |
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(7) |
Table 2:
Emission measures and H luminosities.
To reconstruct the global line profile we redistribute
the independent Doppler-shifted contributions from each
volume element of the wind expanding material in the
radial velocity co-ordinates. The profile thus represents
a "broadening function'' resulting from a field of contributions
which differ in emissivity and radial velocity. It can be
compared only to high-velocity features in the profile
produced by regions with
.
A technique of integration can be understood with the help
of Fig. 1. Volume elements of the same radial velocity,
,
are represented by annuli around
the line of sight, and can be expressed as
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(8) |
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(9) |
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(10) |
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(11) |
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(12) |
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Figure 2:
Luminosity of H![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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(13) |
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(14) |
In major part we used observations of H profiles from the
survey of van Winckel et al. (1993) and Ivison et al. (1994). Other sources are
referred in Table 2. If possible, we selected objects that
were observed during both quiescence and activity.
We converted observed fluxes in relative units to fluxes in
with the aid of simultaneous optical V and R photometry
(Skopal et al. 2004, and references therein) and the model
SED according to Skopal (2005).
Approximate corrections for emission lines
(Skopal 2003) were also included. To deredden the fluxes we
used appropriate EB-V from Table 1 of Skopal (2005).
For the purpose of Sect. 4 we also estimated emission measure,
,
of the symbiotic nebula at the dates of H
observations (Table 2). For the sake of simplicity and
availability we used dereddened fluxes, FU, derived
from U-magnitudes. Then according to Eq. (18) of Skopal (2005),
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(15) |
Geometrical parameters of our wind model are described in
Sect. 2.2. Some limits for parameters
and H
can be estimated from the effective radius,
,
of the hot star. This parameter represents the radius of
a sphere that produces the observed luminosity of the hot
stellar source and can be derived from modeling the SED of
the ultraviolet continuum (Skopal 2005). In our model
.
During quiescent phases we observe
(Skopal 2005, Table 3).
Assuming the ratio
then yields
and
.
During active phases we assume flared disk with
.
Then parameters H and
are adjusted to the
corresponding
(a few of
)
for objects we investigate here.
The origin of the wind, ,
and
in the wind
law are model parameters, while
is given by
the extension of the wings.
Values of
,
and
are critical for
the synthetic profile. Generally, a larger value of
corresponds to a slower and denser wind with
a higher emissivity at a point r.
Therefore the wind characterized with a larger value of
produces a narrower profile. Regions close to the
wind's origin (
)
have the largest
emissivity, because of high densities for small values of
both r and v(r); they contribute mainly to the line core.
However, a fraction of their radiation is blocked by the outer
rim of the disk in our model.
In addition, optical properties of these regions can deviate
from the optically thin case. Therefore we do not aim to fit
the core of the line by this procedure. At further distances
(
)
the wind is accelerated to
km s-1 (Eq. (2),
).
Contributions from these regions are more important to
create the broad wings. A good agreement between the modeled
and observed profiles for radial velocities
km s-1 (Fig. 3) is consistent with our
assumption on the optically thin regime from this distance
above the source of the wind.
We reconstructed synthetic profiles according to Eqs. (10) and (12). To obtain an appropriate solution we calculated
a grid of models for reasonable ranges of
and
.
By this way we also estimated their
uncertainties to
and
,
respectively. A comparison
of resulting models with observations is shown in Fig. 3 and
the corresponding parameters are introduced in Table 1.
Models match perfectly the line profile for
km s-1.
Therefore to determine the mass-loss rate from the hot star,
,
we compared the luminosity of wings for
km s-1 (
(200) in our notation)
with that calculated according to Eq. (14) for the same radial
velocity interval.
Dependences of
(200) on
for our models
are plotted in Fig. 2.
Uncertainties in the
values were determined from those
of
),
and
.
We estimated
the uncertainty in the H
fluxes to
10%, which results
mainly from determination of the level of the local continuum
(Sect. 3.1). As
,
the uncertainty
in fluxes increases that of
with only square root.
We estimated them to 8%-12%.
We showed that the profiles from the ionized optically thin,
bipolar stellar wind match well the observed H wings for
km s-1.
The curve fitting the profile is proportional to
(Eqs. (10) and (12)), which is of the same type as that including
solely the Raman Ly
scattering
process (Lee 2000). From this point of view it is not possible
to distinguish contributions from the ionized wind and the Raman
scattering in the wing profile directly. However, both the
processes take place in very different regions of the binary.
The ionized stellar wind in our model is located around
the hot star, while the Raman-scattered photons originate in
the neutral part of the wind from the giant.
Below we summarize observational characteristics of the H
emission that could help to identify main sources of radiation
contributing to its broad wings.
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Figure 3:
Comparison of the modeled (M) and observed (O) H![]() ![]() ![]() |
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(i)
During eclipses of the hot component by the giant the H emission
in both the core and the wings decreased significantly.
Examples here are
AX Per (Skopal et al. 2001, Fig. 6),
AR Pav (Quiroga et al. 2002, Fig. 2),
FN Sgr (Brandi et al. 2005, Table 2, Fig. 4) and
Z And (Skopal et al. 2006, Fig. 4).
These observations suggest that a significant fraction of the
broad H
wings is formed nearby the hot star.
(ii)
Ikeda & Tamura (2000), Quiroga et al. (2002), Mikolajevska et al. (2003) and Brandi et al. (2005)
revealed that the radial velocities from the wings of H follow
the orbital motion of the hot component in V1329 Cyg, AR Pav,
AE Ara and FN Sgr, respectively. This implies that the region
of the H
wings formation is connected with the hot star.
(iii)
The wing profiles from our sample of objects are symmetrically
placed around .
In cases of CI Cyg (20/06/89,
)
and AR Pav
(17/07/88,
)
we shifted the model by +12 and
+15 km s-1, respectively, to match better observations. These
shifts are consistent with the hot component orbital motion.
Only in the case of Z And (22/09/88,
)
the model was shifted by +10 km s-1, which is against the orbital
motion. Nature of this difference is not clear.
(iv)
In our sample of H profiles we did not find systematic
shifts, which could be associated with the Raman scattering.
For example, the supposed blue-shifted component from
the neutral wind at/around the binary axis that moves against
the incident Ly
photons
(Schmid et al. 1999) and/or the redshift of the H
wing
center as suggested by Jung & Lee (2004), were not indicated.
From this point of view, a good agreement between systemic
velocities determined independently from M-giant and
H
-wings radial velocities, respectively, for objects
referred in the point (ii), is consistent with our finding.
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Figure 4:
Total H![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Here we investigate a relationship between the H luminosities,
(0),
(200), and the emission measure of
the symbiotic nebula,
,
which is due to
photoionization. Relevant data are described in Sect. 3.1,
summarized in Table 2 and plotted in Fig. 4.
During quiescent phases the nebular emission originates
in the ionized part of the wind from the giant as given by
the STB (Seaquist et al. 1984) model. This was independently supported
by finding of Nussbaumer et al. (1988) that symbiotic objects fit well the
CNO abundance ratios of normal red giants. Following analyses
showed that the model is applicable for most of quiescent
symbiotics (e.g. Mikolajewska et al. 2002; Seaquist et al. 1993). Within this model the
ionized wind from the giant can contribute to only the H core
emission, because of its small radial velocity dispersion.
The broad H
wings thus have to be of a different nature.
Figure 4 plots the relevant quantities as a function of
.
The observed dependencies are in qualitative
agreement with the model: The total H
emission,
,
is a strong function of
,
whereas the wing emission,
(200), shows only a faint dependence.
Assuming that the wing emission originates in the hot stellar
wind, the corresponding mass-loss rates are of a few
(Table 1, Fig. 2). However, such the wind
can produce only very small nebular emission. According to
Eqs. (3) and (5) its emission measure,
,
can be expressed as
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(16) |
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(17) |
During active phases the wing emission increases with
by a factor of
4.4 faster than
during quiescence (Fig. 4). This supports the idea that the
source of emission producing the broad H
wings is the ionized
hydrogen. Our H
-wing models then imply that its kinematics
corresponds to a fast wind from the hot star at rates of
a few
(Table 1).
The wind produces a large emission measure, because it increases
with
(Eq. (16)). Our models yield
cm-3, which can rival
the
(Tables 1 and 2).
Thus during active phases
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(18) |
Finally, we note that the presence of a strong hot star wind
during active phases is consistent with the finding of Skopal (2005)
that the low-temperature nebula (LTN) in active symbiotics has
a high emissivity (
a few times 109 cm-3)
and is located around the hot star, because it is subject to
eclipses. Therefore the LTN in active symbiotics may be
attributed to the emission of the wind from the hot component.
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Figure 5: Radio observations of Z And at cm wavelengths during quiescence and the recent activity. Steeper continuum spectrum during activity suggests optically thicker conditions than during quiescence. The data are from Brocksopp et al. (2004). |
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In this paper we introduced a model of the optically thin,
bipolar stellar wind from the hot components in symbiotic binaries.
We derived an expression, which relates the H luminosity
from the wind to the mass-loss rate (Eq. (5)) and calculated
the corresponding line profile with the aid of Eq. (10).
We applied the model to the observed H
profiles for 10
symbiotic stars during their
quiescent and active phases. Synthetic profiles provide a good
fit to wings for
km s-1 from the line center.
According to Eq. (10) the wing profile can be approximated by
the curve
,
which is of
the same type as that resulting from the Raman scattering
process (Lee 2000). Therefore it is not possible to distinguish
between contributions from the ionized hot stellar wind and
that from the Raman scattering process by only modeling the line
profile. To support the former possibility we investigated
relationship between the emission from the H
wings and
the emission measure of the symbiotic nebula.
We found that during quiescent phases the dependence
(200)/
is faint (cf. Fig. 4).
The wing emission is relatively very small (Eq. (17)).
If the wings originate in a fast hot star wind,
the corresponding mass-loss rates are of a few
(Table 1). However, it is difficult to
indicate their emission independently by other observations.
Even in the radio the wing emission has no detectable
effect - the radio spectra satisfy radiation of the ionized
wind from the giant (the STB model).
During active phases the
(200)/
relation is a factor of
4.4 steeper than that from
quiescence. In this case the wing emission can represent
a significant fraction of the observed nebular emission
(Eq. (18)) and thus can affect the radio spectrum. At cm
wavelengths the steep continuum spectrum during the recent
activity of Z And (Fig. 5) is consistent with an optically
thick f-f emission from the hot star wind.
The
(200)/
relationship and
other characteristics of the H
profiles (Sect. 4.1)
suggest that the ionized hydrogen located around the hot star in
the form of a fast stellar wind is the dominant source of
the emission in the
2000) km s-1 broad H
wings
during active phases. The corresponding mass-loss rates are of
a few
(Table 1).
This finding allows us to attribute the LTN emission in active
symbiotics to that from the hot star wind.
Acknowledgements
The author thanks the anonymous referee for inspiring comments. This research was in part supported by a grant of the Slovak Academy of Sciences No. 2/4014/04.