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Colliding stellar winds: X-ray emission and instabilities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2017

Ian R. Stevens*
Affiliation:
School of Physics and Space Research, The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, U.K.

Abstract

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Colliding stellar winds are an important part of early-type binaries. In this paper I discuss the phenomenon, concentrating mainly on the basic hydrodynamics of colliding winds, and the physics of X-ray emission. The following topics are covered:

1) Basic physics: The basic characteristics of the shock-produced thermal X-ray emission, and discuss general trends of X-ray emission from colliding wind binaries (CWBs).

2) Hydrodynamic simulations: Recent calculations have found that the interface in colliding winds is usually dynamically unstable, with three distinct instabilities.

3) Gamma Velorum: recent ROSAT observations give much insight into colliding winds. I discuss recent hydrodynamic calculations pertaining to these observations.

4) Radiation Hydrodynamics in CWBs: Recent calculations have included the effects of both radiation fields on the wind hydrodynamics in colliding wind systems.

Type
Session VII - Hydrodynamics and high-energy physics of colliding winds
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1995 

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