Rotating massive O stars with non-spherical 2D winds
Patrick E. Müller (1,2), Jorick S. Vink (1)
(1) Armagh Observatory, Armagh, Northern-Ireland, UK,
(2) School of Physical and Geographical Sciences, Keele University, Staffordshire, UK
We present solutions for the velocity field and mass-loss rates for 2D
axisymmetric outflows, as well as for the case of mass accretion through the
use of the Lambert W-function. For the case of a rotating radiation-driven wind
the velocity field is obtained analytically using a parameterised description
of the line acceleration that only depends on radius r at any given latitude
theta. The line acceleration g(r) is obtained from Monte-Carlo multi-line
radiative transfer calculations. The critical/sonic point of our equation of
motion varies with latitude theta. Furthermore, an approximate analytical
solution for the supersonic flow of a rotating wind is derived, which is found
to closely resemble the exact solution. For the simultaneous solution of the
mass-loss rate and velocity field, we use the iterative method of our 1D method
extended to the non-spherical 2D case. We apply the new theoretical expressions
with our iterative method to the stellar wind from a differentially rotating 40
M_sun O5-V main sequence star as well as to a 60 M_sun O-giant star,
and we compare our results to previous studies that are extensions of the
Castor et al. (1975, ApJ, 195, 157) CAK formalism. Next, we account for the
effects of oblateness and gravity darkening. Our numerical results predict an
equatorial decrease of the mass-loss rate, which would imply that
(surface-averaged) total mass-loss rates are lower than for the spherical 1D
case, in contradiction to the Maeder & Meynet (2000, A&A, 361, 159) formalism
that is oftentimes employed in stellar evolution calculations for rotating
massive stars. To clarify the situation in nature we discuss observational
tests to constrain the shapes of large-scale 2D stellar winds.
Reference: A&A, in press
Status: Manuscript has been accepted
Weblink: http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.5929
Comments: 20 pages, 4 figures, 7 tables
Email: p.e.mueller@gmx.com