On the Launching and Structure of Radiatively Driven Winds in Wolf-Rayet Stars

TL;DR

This paper investigates the structure and launching mechanisms of radiatively driven winds in Wolf-Rayet stars, revealing conditions for wind formation, the role of mass loss, and implications for stellar variability.

Contribution

It provides an analytical framework for understanding wind solutions in Wolf-Rayet stars, identifying the critical mass loss rate and the nature of stable wind solutions.

Findings

Weak-flow solutions resemble hydrostatic stars but fail to launch thick winds.

Strong, compact solutions are likely for Wolf-Rayet envelopes.

Convection is unlikely to cause variability; acoustic instabilities are a possible alternative.

Abstract

Hydrostatic models of Wolf-Rayet stars typically contain low-density outer envelopes that inflate the stellar radii by a factor of several and are capped by a denser shell of gas. Inflated envelopes and density inversions are hallmarks of envelopes that become super-Eddington as they cross the iron-group opacity peak, but these features disappear when mass loss is sufficiently rapid. We re-examine the structures of steady, spherically symmetric wind solutions that cross a sonic point at high optical depth, identifying the physical mechanism by which outflow affects the stellar structure, and provide an improved analytical estimate for the critical mass loss rate above which extended structures are erased. Weak-flow solutions below this limit resemble hydrostatic stars even in supersonic zones; however, we infer that these fail to successfully launch optically thick winds. Wolf-Rayet envelopes will therefore likely correspond to the strong, compact solutions. We also find that wind solutions with negligible gas pressure are stably stratified at and below the sonic point. This implies that convection is not the source of variability in Wolf-Rayet stars, as has been suggested; but, acoustic instabilities provide an alternative explanation. Our solutions are limited to high optical depths by our neglect of Doppler enhancements to the opacity, and do not account for acoustic instabilities at high Eddington factors; yet they provide useful insights into Wolf-Rayet stellar structures.