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| Paper: |
Acyclic High-Energy Variability in Eta Carinae and WR 140 |
| Volume: |
465, Four Decades of Massive Star Research - A Scientific Meeting in Honor of Anthony J. Moffat |
| Page: |
330 |
| Authors: |
Corcoran, M. F. |
| Abstract: |
Eta Carinae and WR 140 are similar long-period colliding wind binaries in which X-ray emission is produced by a strong shock due to the collision of the powerful stellar winds. The change in the orientation and density of this shock as the stars revolve in their orbits influences the X-ray flux and spectrum in a phase dependent way. Monitoring observations with RXTE and other X-ray satellite observatories since the 1990s have detailed this variability but have also shown significant deviations from strict phase dependence (short-term brightness changes or “flares”, and cycle-to-cycle average flux differences). We examine these acyclic variations in Eta Car and WR 140 and discuss what they tell us about the stability of the wind-wind collision shock. |
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