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Article
The XMM-Newton EPIC X-ray Light Curve Analysis of WR 6.
The Astrophysical Journal (2013)
  • Richard Ignace, East Tennessee State University
  • K. G. Gayley, University of Iowa
  • W.-R. Hamann, University Potsdam
  • D. P. Huenemoerder, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • L. M. Oskinova, University Potsdam
  • A. M. T. Pollock, European Space Astronomy Centre
  • M. McFall, Ohio State University
Abstract
We obtained four pointings of over 100 ks each of the well-studied Wolf-Rayet star WR 6 with the XMM-Newton satellite. With a first paper emphasizing the results of spectral analysis, this follow-up highlights the X-ray variability clearly detected in all four pointings. However, phased light curves fail to confirm obvious cyclic behavior on the well-established 3.766 d period widely found at longer wavelengths. The data are of such quality that we were able to conduct a search for "event clustering" in the arrival times of X-ray photons. However, we fail to detect any such clustering. One possibility is that X-rays are generated in a stationary shock structure. In this context we favor a co-rotating interaction region (CIR) and present a phenomenological model for X-rays from a CIR structure. We show that a CIR has the potential to account simultaneously for the X-ray variability and constraints provided by the spectral analysis. Ultimately, the viability of the CIR model will require both intermittent long-term X-ray monitoring of WR 6 and better physical models of CIR X-ray production at large radii in stellar winds.
Keywords
  • XMM-Newton,
  • EPIC,
  • X-ray,
  • Light Curve Analysis
Publication Date
September 20, 2013
DOI
10.1088/0004-637X/775/1/29
Citation Information
Richard Ignace, K. G. Gayley, W.-R. Hamann, D. P. Huenemoerder, et al.. "The XMM-Newton EPIC X-ray Light Curve Analysis of WR 6." The Astrophysical Journal Vol. 775 (2013) ISSN: 0004-637X
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/richard_ignace/39/