Long baseline interferometry: a promising tool for multiplicity investigations of massive stars

Massive binaries are crucial laboratories that allow us to investigate processes occurring in quite extreme conditions, such as particle acceleration, high-energy emission, or even dust formation. All these processes are intimately dependent on binarity. Our understanding of the underlying physics strongly requires preliminary multiplicity studies likely to uncover still undetected binaries, and determine their orbital parameters. However, classical spectroscopic approaches sometimes fail to provide a solution to this issue. Long baseline interferometry turns out to be a promising complementary technique to address the question of the multiplicity of massive stars. A campaign has been initiated with the VLTI to take benefit of this technique.Comment: 1 page, to appear in the proceedings of the ESO conference "The Interferometric View on Hot Stars", held in Vina del Mar, Chile (2-6 March 2009), RevMexA

Tentative insight into the multiplicity of the persistent dust maker WR106 from X-ray observations

This paper presents the results of the analysis of the very first dedicated X-ray observation with XMM-Newton of WR106. This carbon-rich WC9d Wolf-Rayet star belongs to the category of persistent dust makers (WCd stars). The issue of the multiplicity of these dust makers is pivotal to understand the dust formation process, and in this context X-ray observations may allow to reveal an X-ray emission attributable to colliding-winds in a binary system. The main result of this analysis is the lack of detection of X-rays coming from WR106. Upper limits on the X-ray flux are estimated, but the derived numbers are not sufficient to provide compelling constraints on the existence or not of a colliding-wind region. Detailed inspection of archive data bases reveals that persistent dust makers have been poorly investigated by the most sensitive X-ray observatories. Certainly, the combination of several approaches to indirectly constrain their multiplicity should be applied to lift a part of the veil on the nature of these persistent dust makers.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables; accepted for publication in New Astronomy (in press

Long-term XMM-Newton investigation of two particle-accelerating colliding-wind binaries in NGC6604: HD168112 and HD167971

The long-term (over more than one decade) X-ray emission from two massive stellar systems known to be particle accelerators is investigated using XMM-Newton. Their X-ray properties are interpreted taking into account recent information about their multiplicity and orbital parameters. The two targets, HD168112 and HD167971 appear to be overluminous in X-rays, lending additional support to the idea that a significant contribution of the X-ray emission comes from colliding-wind regions. The variability of the X-ray flux from HD168112 is interpreted in terms of varying separation expected to follow the 1/D rule for adiabatic shocked winds. For HD167971, marginal decrease of the X-ray flux in September 2002 could tentatively be explained by a partial wind eclipse in the close pair. No long-term variability could be demonstrated despite the significant difference of separation between 2002 and 2014. This suggests the colliding-wind region in the wide orbit does not contribute a lot to the total X-ray emission, with a main contribution coming from the radiative shocked winds in the eclipsing pair. The later result provides evidence that shocks in a colliding-wind region may be efficient particle accelerators even in the absence of bright X-ray emission, suggesting particle acceleration may operate in a wide range of conditions. Finally, in hierarchical triple O-type systems, thermal X-rays do not necessarily constitute an efficient tracer to detect the wind-wind interaction in the long period orbit.Comment: 12 pages, 4 postscript figures, 6 table

A binary signature in the non-thermal radio-emitter Cyg OB2 #9

Aims: Non-thermal radio emission associated with massive stars is believed to arise from a wind-wind collision in a binary system. However, the evidence of binarity is still lacking in some cases, notably Cyg OB2 #9 Methods: For several years, we have been monitoring this heavily-reddened star from various observatories. This campaign allowed us to probe variations both on short and long timescales and constitutes the first in-depth study of the visible spectrum of this object. Results: Our observations provide the very first direct evidence of a companion in Cyg OB2 #9, confirming the theoretical wind-wind collision scenario. These data suggest a highly eccentric orbit with a period of a few years, compatible with the 2yr-timescale measured in the radio range. In addition, the signature of the wind-wind collision is very likely reflected in the behaviour of some emission lines.Comment: accepted by A&A, 4 p, 3figure

INTEGRAL-ISGRI observations of the CygOB2 region: earching for hard X-ray point sources in a region containing several non-thermal emitting massive stars

Aims: We analyze INTEGRAL-ISGRI data in order to probe the hard X-ray emission (above 20 keV) from point sources in the Cyg OB2 region and to investigate the putative non-thermal high-energy emission from early-type stars (Wolf-Rayet and O-type stars). Among the targets located in the field of view, we focus on the still unidentified EGRET source 3EG 2033+4118 that may be related to massive stars known to produce non-thermal emission in the radio domain, and on the wide colliding-wind binary WR 140. Methods: Using a large set of data obtained with the IBIS-ISGRI imager onboard INTEGRAL, we run the OSA software package in order to find point sources in the fully coded field of view of the instrument. Results: Our data do not allow the detection of a lower-energy counterpart of 3EG J2033+4118 nor of any other new point sources in the field of view, and we derive upper limits on the high-energy flux for a few targets: 3EG J2033+4118, TeV J2032+4130, WR140, WR146 and WR147. The results are discussed in the context of the multiwavelength investigation of these objects. Conclusions: The upper limits derived are valuable constraints for models aimed at understanding the acceleration of particles in non-thermal emitting massive stars, and of the still unidentified very-high gamma-ray source TeV J2032+4130.Comment: 6 page, 2 figures including one figure in GIF format, accepted for publication by A&

Spectroscopic study of the O-type runaway supergiant HD 195592

The scope of this paper is to perform a detailed spectroscopic study of the northern O-type supergiant HD 195592. We use a large sample of high quality spectra in order to investigate its multiplicity, and to probe the line profile variability. Our analysis reveals a clear spectroscopic binary signature in the profile of the He {\sc i} $\lambda$ 6678 line, pointing to a probable O + B system. We report on low amplitude radial velocity variations in every strong absorption line in the blue spectrum of HD 195592. These variations are ruled by two time-scales respectively of 5.063 and about 20 days. The former is firmly established, whilst the latter is poorly constrained. We report also on a very significant line profile variability of the H $\beta$ line, with time scales strongly related to those of the radial velocities. Our results provide significant evidence that HD 195592 is a binary system, with a period that might be the variability time-scale of about 5 days. The second time scale may be the signature of an additional star moving along a wider orbit provided its mass is low enough, even though direct evidence for the presence of a third star is still lacking. Alternatively, the second time-scale may be the signature of a variability intrinsic to the stellar wind of the primary, potentially related to the stellar rotation.Comment: 9 pages, 5 postscript figures, accepted for publication in New Astronom

Massive non-thermal radio emitters: new data and their modelling

During recent years some non-thermal radio emitting OB stars have been discovered to be binary, or multiple systems. The non-thermal emission is due to synchrotron radiation that is emitted by electrons accelerated up to high energies. The electron acceleration occurs at the strong shocks created by the collision of radiatively-driven winds. Here we summarize the available radio data and more recent observations for the binary Cyg OB2 No. 9. We also show a new emission model which is being developed to compare the theoretical total radio flux and the spectral index with the observed radio light curves. This comparison will be useful in order to solve fundamental questions, such as the determination of the stellar mass loss rates, which are perturbed by clumping.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, poster at Four Decades of Research on Massive Stars-A Scientific Meeting in Honour of Anthony F.J.Moffa

Search for magnetic fields in particle-accelerating colliding-wind binaries

Some colliding-wind massive binaries, called particle-accelerating colliding-wind binaries (PACWB), exhibit synchrotron radio emission, which is assumed to be generated by a stellar magnetic field. However, no measurement of magnetic fields in these stars has ever been performed. We aim at quantifying the possible stellar magnetic fields present in PACWB to provide constraints for models. We gathered 21 high-resolution spectropolarimetric observations of 9 PACWB available in the ESPaDOnS, Narval and HarpsPol archives. We analysed these observations with the Least Squares Deconvolution method. We separated the binary spectral components when possible. No magnetic signature is detected in any of the 9 PACWB stars and all longitudinal field measurements are compatible with 0 G. We derived the upper field strength of a possible field that could have remained hidden in the noise of the data. While the data are not very constraining for some stars, for several stars we could derive an upper limit of the polar field strength of the order of 200 G. We can therefore exclude the presence of strong or moderate stellar magnetic fields in PACWB, typical of the ones present in magnetic massive stars. Weak magnetic fields could however be present in these objects. These observational results provide the first quantitative constraints for future models of PACWB.Comment: Accepted in A&

The Struve-Sahade effect in the optical spectra of O-type binaries I. Main-sequence systems

We present a spectroscopic analysis of four massive binary systems that are known or are good candidates to display the Struve-Sahade effect (defined as the apparent strengthening of the secondary spectrum of the binary when the star is approaching, and the corresponding weakening of the lines when it is receding). We use high resolution optical spectra to determine new orbital solutions and spectral types of HD 165052, HD 100213, HD 159176 and DH Cep. As good knowledge of the fundamental parameters of the considered systems is necessary to examine the Struve-Sahade effect. We then study equivalent width variations in the lines of both components of these binaries during their orbital cycle. In the case of these four systems, variations appear in the equivalent widths of some lines during the orbital cycle, but the definition given above can any longer be valid, since it is now clear that the effect modifies the primary spectrum as much as the secondary spectrum. Furthermore, the lines affected, and the way in which they are affected, depend on the considered system. For at least two of them (HD 100213 and HD 159176) these variations probably reflect the ellipsoidal variable nature of the system.Comment: 12 pages, 20 figures, in press A&

A spectroscopic investigation of the O-type star population in four Cygnus OB associations. II. Determination of the fundamental parameters

Aims. Having established the binary status of nineteen O-type stars located in four Cygnus OB associations, we now determine their fundamental parameters to constrain their properties and their evolutionary status. We also investigate their surface nitrogen abundances, which we compare with other results from the literature obtained for galactic O-type stars. Methods. Using optical spectra collected for each object in our sample and some UV data from the archives, we apply the CMFGEN atmosphere code to determine their main properties. For the binary systems, we have disentangled the components to obtain their individual spectra and investigate them as if they were single stars. Results. We find that the distances of several presumably single O-type stars seem poorly constrained because their luminosities are not in agreement with the "standard" luminosities of stars with similar spectral types. The ages of these O-type stars are all less than 7 Myrs. Therefore, the ages of these stars agree with those, quoted in the literature, of the four associations, except for CygOB8 for which the stars seem older than the association itself. However, we point out that the distance of certain stars is debatable relative to values found in the literature. The N content of these stars put in perspective with N contents of several other galactic O-type stars seems to draw the same five groups as found in the "Hunter" diagram for the O and B-type stars in the LMC even though their locations are obviously different. We determine mass-loss rates for several objects from the Halpha line and UV spectra. Finally, we confirm the "mass discrepancy" especially for O stars with masses smaller than 30 Msun. .Comment: 11 pages, and 26 pages of Appendix. A&A in pres