![](https://d3ilqtpdwi981i.cloudfront.net/QFfhv4n4YllRiMnHow4wQQCdLBs=/425x550/smart/https://bepress-attached-resources.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/09/66/8c/09668ca1-c7c0-4385-a59a-14c0145d9c80/thumbnail_BPFile%20object.jpg)
Article
The XMM-Newton EPIC X-ray Light Curve Analysis of WR 6.
The Astrophysical Journal
(2013)
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
Disciplines
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/