Methods to Test the Source of the Extreme Gas Motions in WS 35

We present theoretical arguments toward the plausibility of a stellar wind to explain the 16,000 km s ^−1 line broadening in the optical spectra of WS 35, the central star in the Pa 30 nebula. The wind model is discussed in the context of super-Eddington flows. We argue that WS 35 potentially occupi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sean J. Gunderson, Richard Ignace, Walter W. Golay
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:The Astrophysical Journal
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/addb46
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Summary:We present theoretical arguments toward the plausibility of a stellar wind to explain the 16,000 km s ^−1 line broadening in the optical spectra of WS 35, the central star in the Pa 30 nebula. The wind model is discussed in the context of super-Eddington flows. We argue that WS 35 potentially occupies a new regime of wind driving theory as the first metal-only wind. This framework provides a promising avenue for explaining the high-speed flow. We further describe how future radio observations can provide an independent test of the spherical wind scenario. A magnetically channeled wind would likely produce a relatively flat and bright radio spectral energy distribution. By contrast, a spherical wind should result in a thermal radio spectrum with a canonical continuum slope of ν ^0.6 , and a brightness level consistent with the currently predicted mass-loss rate.
ISSN:1538-4357