EUV and Soft-X-ray Emission and its Relation to the Structure of B Star Winds

David Cohen[1,2,3], Joseph Cassinelli[2], Joseph MacFarlane[3], Stan Owocki[1]

[1] Bartol Research Institute, U. of Delaware, USA
[2] U. of Wisconsin, USA
[3] Prism Computational Sciences, USA

Thanks to the rapidly improving quality of space-based EUV and soft-X-ray spectroscopic data, there have been several recent developments in our understanding of the structure of B star winds. With EUVE for the first time individual emission lines from million degree plasma on OB stars have been measured, between 170 Å and 335 Å (73 eV and 37 eV) in epsilon CMa (B2 II). The luminosity of each of the five iron lines detected, which represent a distribution of temperatures from less than 1 million K to more than 3 million K, approaches the total ROSAT X-ray luminosity for this star. Furthermore, the distribution of line fluxes can only be reconciled with the ROSAT data if wind attenuation is accounted for. The unique EUV dataset of epsilon CMa has several interesting consequences. I will discuss two of them: First, the attenuation of the observed EUV line emission shortward of lambda = 228 Å is the first step in the reprocessing of EUV/soft-X-ray photons into longer wavelength EUV and UV photons via the Bowen mechanism. The final stages of the Bowen cascade near 400 Å are accessible in epsilon CMa using the EUVE spectrometers. I will present some numerical modeling of this process, which among other things, puts constraints on the wind temperature in this star and also makes some predictions about the ionization balance in the wind. Second, the measurements and interpretations of the high ionization lines in epsilon CMa motivate a new analysis of EUV/soft-X-ray emission and absorption in hot star winds. This analysis provides a framework for explaining the observed L_x/L_{Bol} ~ 10^{-7} law seen in O stars, and its precipitous decline to much lower values in B stars. It also provides some insight into the competition between radiative and adiabatic cooling of wind shocks and the implication for the spatial distribution of hot plasma in the winds of hot stars.