Mass-loss and diffusion in subdwarf B stars and hot white dwarfs: do weak winds exist?

TL;DR

This study predicts the existence and characteristics of weak stellar winds in subdwarf B stars and hot white dwarfs, highlighting their dependence on stellar parameters and the importance of multicomponent effects.

Contribution

It introduces a modified method for calculating mass-loss rates considering weak winds and multicomponent effects, providing new insights into stellar wind existence in these stars.

Findings

Weak winds may exist only in the most luminous sdB stars.

Decoupling of metals from hydrogen and helium occurs in more compact sdB stars.

No wind solutions for white dwarfs if multicomponent effects are ignored.

Abstract

The effect of diffusion on the chemical composition of subdwarf B (sdB) stars and of hot white dwarfs strongly depends on the presence of weak winds. In the paper, for stars with half a solar mass, for various effective temperatures between 25000 K and 50000 K, and for various metallicities between solar and 1/100 solar, the mass loss rates are predicted as a function of the surface gravity. With assumptions similar to the original theory of radiatively driven winds, the method of solution of the momentum equation has been modified, because the usual parametrization of the line force multiplier leads to complications in the case of weak winds. According to the results, weak winds with mass-loss rates of the order E-11 solar masses per year may exist only for the most luminous sdB stars. For the more compact ones, the decoupling of the metals from the bulk matter (hydrogen and helium) is expected in the wind region, because the momentum exchange via Coulomb collisions is not effective enough. Thus multicomponent effects are of great importance. For the case of white dwarfs no wind solution exists at all, if multicomponent effects are neglected.