Speaker
Dr
Anita Reimer
(Stanford University)
Description
Colliding winds of massive stars in binary systems are candidate sites of non-thermal high-energy photon emission. Long since, coincidences between massive star systems/associations and unidentified gamma-ray sources have been proposed. Only now, with the sensitivity of the Fermi Gamma Ray Observatory and current very-high-energy (VHE) Cherenkov instruments, will it be possible to conclusively probe these systems as high-energy emitters.
We will summarize the characteristics and broadband predictions of generic optically thin emission models in the observables accessible at GeV and TeV energies. The ability to constrain orbital parameters of massive star-star binaries by joined GeV-to-TeV observations will be discussed. As an example we will present orbital parameter constraints for the nearby Wolf-Rayet binary system WR 147 based on recently published VHE flux limits.
Combining the broadband emission model with the catalog of such systems and their individual parameters allows us to conclude on the expected population of massive star-star systems at high-energy gamma-rays.
Author
Dr
Anita Reimer
(Stanford University)
Co-author
Dr
Olaf Reimer
(Stanford University)
