Non-thermal emission processes in massive binaries

TL;DR

This paper reviews the physical processes behind non-thermal emission in massive stars, especially binaries, covering radio to high-energy domains, and discusses semi-quantitative predictions and observational results.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive theoretical and semi-quantitative framework linking stellar, wind, and orbital parameters to non-thermal emission in massive binaries.

Findings

Non-thermal radio emission is primarily associated with massive binaries.

Stellar wind interactions and magnetic fields influence high-energy emission.

Parameters can predict non-thermal emission characteristics.

Abstract

In this paper, I present a general discussion of several astrophysical processes likely to play a role in the production of non-thermal emission in massive stars, with emphasis on massive binaries. Even though the discussion will start in the radio domain where the non-thermal emission was first detected, the census of physical processes involved in the non-thermal emission from massive stars shows that many spectral domains are concerned, from the radio to the very high energies. First, the theoretical aspects of the non-thermal emission from early-type stars will be addressed. The main topics that will be discussed are respectively the physics of individual stellar winds and their interaction in binary systems, the acceleration of relativistic electrons, the magnetic field of massive stars, and finally the non-thermal emission processes relevant to the case of massive stars. Second, this general qualitative discussion will be followed by a more quantitative one, devoted to the most probable scenario where non-thermal radio emitters are massive binaries. I will show how several stellar, wind and orbital parameters can be combined in order to make some semi-quantitative predictions on the high-energy counterpart to the non-thermal emission detected in the radio domain. These theoretical considerations will be followed by a census of results obtained so far, and related to this topic... (see paper for full abstract)