Exceptionally fast ejecta seen in light echoes of Eta Carinae's Great Eruption

TL;DR

This study of eta Carinae's light echoes reveals extremely high-velocity outflows reaching up to 20,000 km/s, significantly faster than typical stellar winds, suggesting a wide-angle explosive event during its eruption.

Contribution

The paper provides the first observation of the fastest outflow speeds in a non-terminal massive star eruption, challenging existing models of stellar eruptions and outflows.

Findings

H-alpha line shows broad emission wings up to ±20,000 km/s.

High-velocity outflows are inconsistent with electron scattering wings.

Fast outflows are similar to supernova ejecta, indicating explosive behavior.

Abstract

In our ongoing study of eta Carinae's light echoes, there is a relatively bright echo that has been fading slowly, reflecting the 1845-1858 plateau of the eruption. A separate paper discusses its detailed evolution, but here we highlight one important result: the H-alpha line shows extremely broad emission wings that reach -10,000km/s to the blue and +20,000km/s to the red. The line profile shape is inconsistent with electron scattering wings, indicating high-velocity outflowing material. These are the fastest outflow speeds ever seen in a non-terminal massive star eruption. The broad wings are absent in early phases of the eruption, but strengthen in the 1850s. These speeds are two orders of magnitude faster than the escape speed from a warm supergiant, and 5-10 times faster than winds from O-type or Wolf-Rayet stars. Instead, they are reminiscent of fast supernova ejecta or outflows from accreting compact objects, profoundly impacting our understanding of eta Car and related transients. This echo views eta Car from latitudes near the equator, so the high speed does not trace a collimated polar jet aligned with the Homunculus. Combined with fast material in the Outer Ejecta, it indicates a wide-angle explosive outflow. The fast material may constitute a small fraction of the total outflowing mass, most of which expands at 600 km/s. This is reminiscent of fast material revealed by broad absorption during the presupernova eruptions of SN2009ip.