C. T. Bolton

Bio: C. T. Bolton is an academic researcher from Georgia State University. The author has contributed to research in topics: O-type star & Stars. The author has an hindex of 2, co-authored 2 publications receiving 222 citations.

A Long-Period Spectroscopic Binary in the O-Star Multiple System HD 193322

Abstract: We present radial velocity measurements and a single-lined spectroscopic orbit for the bright O-type star, HD 193322A, which we show to be a 311 day binary system that has a distant third companion (detected by speckle interferometry) in a 31 yr orbit. We suggest that the speckle companion appears in the spectrum as a broad-lined component of early B type. We also present a spectrum of the visual companion, HD 193322B, which appears to be an unresolved, double-lined spectroscopic binary. Thus, HD 193322, the central object in the open cluster Collinder 419, is a multiple system that contains at least five stars (possibly seven if the C and D components are physical). Such systems may play a key role in the dynamical ejection of runaway stars from young clusters.

Winds from hot stars

Abstract: ▪ Abstract This review deals with the winds from “normal” hot stars such as O-stars, B- and A-supergiants, and Central Stars of Planetary Nebulae with O-type spectra. The advanced diagnostic methods of stellar winds, including an assessment of the accuracy of the determinations of global stellar wind parameters (terminal velocities, mass-loss rates, wind momenta, and energies), are introduced and scaling relations as a function of stellar parameters are provided. Observational results are interpreted in the framework of the stationary, one-dimensional (1-D) theory of line-driven winds. Systematic effects caused by nonhomogeneous structures, time dependence, and deviations from spherical symmetry are discussed. The review finishes with a brief description of the role of stellar winds as extragalactic distance indicators and as tracers of the chemical composition of galaxies at high redshift.

Mass loss from hot massive stars

Abstract: Mass loss is a key process in the evolution of massive stars, and must be understood quantitatively if it is to be successfully included in broader astrophysical applications such as galactic and cosmic evolution and ionization. In this review, we discuss various aspects of radiation driven mass loss, both from the theoretical and the observational side. We focus on developments in the past decade, concentrating on the winds from OB-stars, with some excursions to the winds from Luminous Blue Variables (including super-Eddington, continuum-driven winds), winds from Wolf–Rayet stars, A-supergiants and Central Stars of Planetary Nebulae. After recapitulating the 1-D, stationary standard model of line-driven winds, extensions accounting for rotation and magnetic fields are discussed. Stationary wind models are presented that provide theoretical predictions for the mass-loss rates as a function of spectral type, metallicity, and the proximity to the Eddington limit. The relevance of the so-called bi-stability jump is outlined. We summarize diagnostical methods to infer wind properties from observations, and compare the results from corresponding campaigns (including the VLT-flames survey of massive stars) with theoretical predictions, featuring the mass loss-metallicity dependence. Subsequently, we concentrate on two urgent problems, weak winds and wind-clumping, that have been identified from various diagnostics and that challenge our present understanding of radiation driven winds. We discuss the problems of “measuring” mass-loss rates from weak winds and the potential of the NIR Br α -line as a tool to enable a more precise quantification, and comment on physical explanations for mass-loss rates that are much lower than predicted by the standard model. Wind-clumping, conventionally interpreted as the consequence of a strong instability inherent to radiative line-driving, has severe implications for the interpretation of observational diagnostics, since derived mass-loss rates are usually overestimated when clumping is present but ignored in the analyses. Depending on the specific diagnostics, such overestimates can amount to factors of 2 to 10, and we describe ongoing attempts to allow for more uniform results. We point out that independent arguments from stellar evolution favor a moderate reduction of present-day mass-loss rates. We also consider larger scale wind structure, interpreted in terms of co-rotating interacting regions, and complete this review with a discussion of recent progress on the X-ray line emission from massive stars. Such emission is thought to originate both from magnetically confined winds and from non-magnetic winds, in the latter case related to the line-driven instability and/or clump-clump collisions. We highlight as to how far the analysis of such X-ray line emission can give further clues regarding an adequate description of wind clumping.

The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey. VIII. Multiplicity properties of the O-type star population

Abstract: Aims. We analyze the multiplicity properties of the massive O-type star population. With 360 O-type stars, this is the largest homogeneous sample of massive stars analyzed to date. Methods. We use multi-epoch spectroscopy and variability analysis to identify spectroscopic binaries. We also use a Monte-Carlo method to correct for observational biases. Results. We observe a spectroscopic binary fraction of 0.35\pm0.03, which corresponds to the fraction of objects displaying statistically significant radial velocity variations with an amplitude of at least 20km/s. We compute the intrinsic binary fraction to be 0.51\pm0.04. We adopt power-laws to describe the intrinsic period and mass-ratio distributions: f_P ~ (log P)^\pi\ (with 0.15 7.8', i.e. approx117 pc) and among the O9.7 I/II objects are however significantly lower than expected from statistical fluctuations. Conclusions. Using simple evolutionary considerations, we estimate that over 50% of the current O star population in 30 Dor will exchange mass with its companion within a binary system. This shows that binary interaction is greatly affecting the evolution and fate of massive stars, and must be taken into account to correctly interpret unresolved populations of massive stars.

ICCD Speckle Observations of Binary Stars. XIX. An Astrometric/Spectroscopic Survey of O Stars

Abstract: We present the results of a speckle interferometric survey made with the CHARA speckle camera and 4 m–class telescopes of Galactic O-type stars with V 59% have a visual or spectroscopic companion) but less so among field and especially runaway stars. There are many triple systems among the speckle binaries, and we discuss their possible role in the ejection of stars from clusters. The period distribution of the binaries is bimodal in log P, but we suggest that binaries with periods of years and decades may eventually be found to fill the gap. The mass ratio distribution of the visual binaries increases toward lower mass ratios, but low mass ratio companions are rare among close, spectroscopic binaries (probably because of the difficulty of spectroscopic detection rather than a real deficit). We present distributions of the eccentricity and longitude of periastron for spectroscopic binaries with elliptical orbits, and we find strong evidence of a bias in the longitude of periastron distribution (the Barr effect), which is probably caused by line distortions introduced by circumstellar gas.

The High Angular Resolution Multiplicity of Massive Stars

Abstract: : We present the results of a speckle interferometric survey of Galactic massive stars that complements and expands upon a similar survey made over a decade ago The speckle observations were made with the Kitt Peak National Observatory and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory 4 m telescopes and USNO speckle camera, and they are sensitive to the detection of binaries in the angular separation regime between 0"03 and 5" with relatively bright companions (deltaV < 3) We report on the discovery of companions to 14 OB stars In total we resolved companions of 41 of 385 O-stars (11%), 4 of 37 Wolf-Rayet stars (11%), and 89 of 139 B-stars (64%; an enriched visual binary sample that we selected for future orbital determinations) We made a statistical analysis of the binary frequency among the subsample that are listed in the Galactic O Star Catalog by compiling published data on other visual companions detected through adaptive optics studies and/or noted in the Washington Double Star Catalog and by collecting published information on radial velocities and spectroscopic binaries We find that the binary frequency is much higher among O-stars in clusters and associations compared to the numbers for field and runaway O-stars, consistent with predictions for the ejection processes for runaway stars We present a first orbit for the O-star delta Orionis; a linear solution of the close, apparently optical, companion of the O-star iota Orionis; and an improved orbit of the Be star delta Scorpii Finally, we list astrometric data for another 249 resolved and 221 unresolved targets that are lower mass stars that we observed for various other science programs