Modelling the asymmetric wind of the luminous blue variable binary MWC 314

TL;DR

This paper presents a detailed spectroscopic and modeling analysis of MWC 314, revealing it as a massive semi-detached binary with asymmetric wind structures, orbital modulation effects, and a circumbinary disc, crucial for understanding LBV evolution.

Contribution

The study provides the first comprehensive model of MWC 314's asymmetric wind structure and orbital parameters, establishing it as a key system in LBV binary evolution.

Findings

MWC 314 is a semi-detached binary with a 60.8-day orbit.

The primary star has a mass of 39.6 solar masses and a radius of 86.8 solar radii.

The wind density is asymmetric, with increased density around the primary.

Abstract

We present a spectroscopic analysis of MWC 314, a luminous blue variable (LBV) candidate with an extended bipolar nebula. The detailed spectroscopic variability is investigated to determine if MWC 314 is a massive binary system with a supersonically accelerating wind or a low-mass B[e] star. We compare the spectrum and spectral energy distribution to other LBVs (such as P Cyg) and find very similar physical wind properties, indicating strong kinship. We combined long-term high-resolution optical spectroscopic monitoring and V-band photometric observations to determine the orbital elements and stellar parameters and to investigate the spectral variability with the orbital phases. We developed an advanced model of the large-scale wind-velocity and wind-density structure with 3-D radiative transfer calculations that fit the orbitally modulated P Cyg profile of He I lam5876, showing outflow velocities above 1000 km/s. We find that MWC 314 is a massive semi-detached binary system of ~1.22 AU, observed at an inclination angle of i=72.8 deg. with an orbital period of 60.8 d and e=0.23. The primary star is a low-vsini LBV candidate of m1=39.6 Msun and R1=86.8 Rsun. The detailed radiative transfer fits show that the geometry of wind density is asymmetric around the primary star with increased wind density by a factor of 3.3, which leads the orbit of the primary. The variable orientation causes the orbital modulation that is observed in absorption portions of P Cyg wind lines. Wind accretion in the system produces a circumbinary disc. MWC 314 is in a crucial evolutionary phase of close binary systems, when the massive primary star has its H envelope being stripped and is losing mass to a circumbinary disc. MWC 314 is a key system for studying the evolutionary consequences of these effects.