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Investigating the continuum linear polarization of Be stars

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 July 2011

Robbie J. Halonen
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Western Ontario London, ON, Canada email: rhalonen@uwo.ca
Frances E. Mackay
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Western Ontario London, ON, Canada email: rhalonen@uwo.ca
Carol E. Jones
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Western Ontario London, ON, Canada email: rhalonen@uwo.ca
T. A. Aaron Sigut
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Western Ontario London, ON, Canada email: rhalonen@uwo.ca
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Abstract

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In order to understand the mechanisms that govern the development of circumstellar disks surrounding classical Be stars, we use computational codes to create theoretical models of these particular objects with their gaseous environments and we compare the predicted observables to astronomical observations. In this study, we present the use of the non-LTE radiative transfer code of Sigut & Jones (2007) to examine the effect of a self-consistent thermal structure and realistic chemical composition on the polarization of the classical Be star γ Cassiopeia. Primarily, we investigate the effect of several improvements on the pioneering work of Poeckert & Marlborough (1978) in calculating the polarization levels of γ Cas. We establish best-fit models for the same observations and analyze the implications of the differences between our results and those obtained by Poeckert & Marlborough.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2011

References

Mackay, F. E., Halonen, R. J., Jones, C. E., Bjorkman, K. S., Sigut, T.A.A. & Meade, M. R. 2010, ApJ, submittedGoogle Scholar
Poeckert, R. & Marlborough, J. M. 1978, ApJ, 220, 940CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sigut, T. A. A. & Jones, C. E. 2007, ApJ, 668, 481CrossRefGoogle Scholar