The shock between the colliding winds in binary systems containing two massive stars accelerates particles to relativistic energies. These energetic particles can produce observable non-thermal radiation from the radio to γ-rays. The important physical processes in such systems are very similar to those we have proposed for non-thermal emissions from single hot stars, which have shocks generated by instabilities in the radiatively driven stellar winds. This paper discusses the theory and observations of non-thermal radiation in the radio, X-ray, and γ-ray regions from both single stars and massive binaries. Similarities and differences between the two types of systems are outlined. We discuss two important physical effects that apparently have been neglected in previous theoretical work on colliding wind binaries.

Although we now know of quite a few WR-O star binary systems, only HD 193793 is well studied across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Hence it affords us the best opportunity to test various models for the system against a wealth of observational data. In this paper we present the results of 8 years of monitoring the radio flux density from HD 193793 with the VLA. This database is unique both in terms of its dense coverage of an entire binary cycle and because it extends the radio coverage to 2 cm wavelength, a shorter wavelength than previously available. With this data we are able to simultaneously solve for the time dependent attenuation in the system and the intrinsic radio luminosity. The standard model of spherically symmetric colliding winds faces severe difficulties in explaining the observations. We conclude that the radio data are most readily interpreted in the context of a WR star wind which is confined to a disk. A disk model for the WR wind also provides a natural explanation for the sudden formation of dust just after periastron.

Since 1987 we have been observing long-period WR binaries about once every two months with the 1.6m telescope at Observatoire du mont Mégantic. The spectra cover the range λλ ∼ 4000—6000Â with 2-pixel resolution (∼2.5Â) and S/N ∼ 500 in the strongest line-peaks. We present a new orbit obtained from several lines in the WC7 and the O4—5 components of the binary system HD 193793 (WR140) and discuss emission-line variability especially in the 2—3 month interval around periastron.

Photometric observations between 1991 and 1993 of the Wolf-Rayet object WR137 show no evidence of an eclipse but some small intrinsic variability. The light-curve for WR140 shows a clear dip in this period, probably as a result of an eclipse.

We present the first results of the IUE monitoring campaign of the WC7+O4-5 binary system WR140. Thirty-four high-resolution short-wavelength spectra were obtained in 1979—93, i.e., over more than one orbital period of 7.9 yr. The spectra show variations in the strong resonance lines of CIV and SiIV: large variations occur at the blue edges of the absorption parts of their P-Cygni profiles just after periastron passage. The observed profile changes are discussed in terms of a velocity variation at periastron passage and/or turbulence in the sightline to the O4—5 star at this time.

The Japan-U.S. satellite ASCA was launched in February 1993 and provides a new capability to obtain high-resolution X-ray spectra of Wolf-Rayet stars in the 0.5 — 10 keV band. We present spectra of the wide binary HD 193793 (WC7+O4-5) obtained three months after periastron with the WC7 star in front, and of the WN7 star HD 93162 in Carina. The spectrum of HD 193793 is heavily absorbed below 2 keV by the WC7 wind and shows a prominent emission line from He-like iron at 6.7 keV. Acceptable fits were obtained using a Raymond-Smith model with kT ≈ 3 keV and non-solar abundances. In contrast, the spectrum of HD 93162 is softer and shows very little emission above ≍2 keV. The relatively low signal-to-noise precludes emission line analysis, and an acceptable spectral fit was obtained using a simple Bremsstrahlung model with kT ≍ 1.6 keV. No significant variability was detected in the X-ray light-curves of either star.

Our ROSAT observations of γ Velorum obtained over several binary cycles reveal substantial, and repeatable phase-dependent X-ray (0.1—2.5 keV) variations. The derived X-ray light-curve shows a 4 x increase in flux at phase ∼ 0.5, which is shown to arise in shocked gas formed in the collison of the two stellar winds, viewed through a cavity in the WC8 wind with an observed opening angle of ∼ 50°. This colliding-wind X-ray emission has Lx ≥ 1032 ergs−1 and kT ≥ 2 keV. Our 2-D hydrodynamical models of the system predict copious X-ray emission from the wind-collision region, at a level and spectrum similar to that observed. Harder (1—10 kev) X-ray observations with the ASCA satellite are being sought to provide improved constraints on the luminosity, spectrum and absorption of the wind-collision emission, and the complex theoretical models involved.

The X-ray source 1E 1024.0-5732, serendipitously discovered with the Einstein Observatory, was previously interpreted as a rapidly spinning neutron star, accreting matter from its massive early-type companion, the emission-line star Th35-42. However, new ROSAT data do not support the presence of a neutron star in this source. A more likely scenario, also indicated by recent optical spectroscopy, involves X-ray emission from the colliding winds of a WR+O binary. Surprisingly, this star remained unnoticed during an extensive optical search for new Wolf-Rayet stars, carried out in this region of sky. Stimulated by the discovery of this first X-ray selected WR star, we have undertaken a search for similar objects in the data from the ROSAT All Sky Survey.

Colliding stellar winds are an important part of early-type binaries. In this paper I discuss the phenomenon, concentrating mainly on the basic hydrodynamics of colliding winds, and the physics of X-ray emission. The following topics are covered:

1) Basic physics: The basic characteristics of the shock-produced thermal X-ray emission, and discuss general trends of X-ray emission from colliding wind binaries (CWBs).

2) Hydrodynamic simulations: Recent calculations have found that the interface in colliding winds is usually dynamically unstable, with three distinct instabilities.

3) Gamma Velorum: recent ROSAT observations give much insight into colliding winds. I discuss recent hydrodynamic calculations pertaining to these observations.

4) Radiation Hydrodynamics in CWBs: Recent calculations have included the effects of both radiation fields on the wind hydrodynamics in colliding wind systems.

The stellar winds flowing out of the components of WR+OB binaries can collide and shock waves are formed. Stellar wind collision, particle acceleration by the shocks and generation of X-ray, γ-ray, radio and IR emission in WR+OB binaries are discussed.

New observations of the colliding wind Wolf-Rayet WC7+O4-5 binary WR140 (HD 193793) at 6 cm and 21 cm with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope are presented. They show that the 21 cm flux, in particular, rose to a sharp maximum in 1992, lagging about a year behind the 6 cm flux. After maximum, both fell simultaneously. The data are interpreted in terms of the varying circumstellar extinction to a non-thermal source in the wind interaction region due to the winds of both WC and O stars.

We report on eight years of spectropolarimetric monitoring of the WR140 binary. The broad-band linear polarization decreased systematically after the 1985 periastron passage. By 1991, it settled to a constant value at which it has remained through the 1993 periastron passage. We do not detect, in data taken after 1989, a line-effect in He II Λ4686. This suggests either that the continuum and the line emission scatter at the same region, or that any intrinsic polarization has been below our detection limit. We conclude that the presently observed polarization of WR140 is consistent with interstellar foreground polarization.

Ultraviolet high-resolution SWP images of the binary system WR140 (HD 193793, WC7+O4-5) were taken with IUE over the period 1979 — 1993. This poster presents a radial-velocity study of the absorption lines, attributed to the O-type component, applying the infrared period of P = 2900 days.

Analysis of the X-ray spectrum of WR140 seven months after the 1993 periastron passage shows chemical abundances inconsistent with those used to model the earlier, more heavily absorbed, PV phase spectrum.

We report X-ray measurements of nearly all known galactic Wolf-Rayet stars from the ROSAT all-sky survey and derive 0.2–2.4 keV luminosties.

A search for TeV γ-rays from the non-thermal radio stars WR125, WR140, WR144 and WR147 has yielded only upper limits. The implications are discussed.

Narrow-band photometry of V444 Cyg shows evidence for a broad bump in the light curve near phase 0.5 for which different possible causes are considered.

The low X-ray temperatures and luminosities of colliding wind binaries compared to theoretical expectations has been a long standing problem. As a potential solution to this problem we present quantitative calculations of the radiation hydrodynamics in colliding wind binary systems, accounting for the effect of two radiation fields on the dynamics of both winds, using a formulation similar to that of Castor et al. (1975, ApJ 195, 157). A more detailed description of this work can be found in Stevens & Pollock (1994, MNRAS in press). Consider only the WR wind being driven under the influence of the WR and O-star radiation fields and motion only on the line-of-centers. Near the WR-star, its own radiation field dominates, and the mass-loss rate will be largely unaffected by the presence of the companion. However, moving towards the O-star, the O-star radiation field becomes a significant fraction of the total flux. As the O-star radiation field is opposed to the WR radiation field the radiative line-force will be diminished and the wind acceleration diminished. This will lead to the WR star wind colliding with the O-star wind at a lower velocity than would be expected from single star models. This mechanism will only be at work in close binary systems. In wide binaries both winds will be at terminal velocity before the other radiation field makes a difference. Results for a sample calculation are shown in Fig 1, using parameters for V444 Cyg from Schmutz et al. (1989, A&A 210, 236). In the absence of any deceleration effects the WR wind velocity at the shock would be ∼ 1300 km s−1, corresponding to kT ∼ 2 keV. The reduction in the WR star velocity at the shock interface caused by the O-star radiation field is predicted to be ∼ x2 leading to kTx ∼ 0.5 keV, in line with X-ray observations.

We investigate the possibility that a stagnation-point magnetic reconnection model may account for the particle acceleration necessary for the generation of nonthermal radio emission in the Wolf-Rayet binary systems exemplified by WR140.

The significance of radiative cooling for the stability properties of colliding astrophysical flows is shown. In the cases of WR ring nebula NGC 6888 and WR binary V444 Cyg it is found that thermal instabilities in the radiative loss function A(T) Tβ, β = β(T) not only have an influence on the dynamics of the collision zone, but also that they lead to a quasi-periodic increase of the radiated energy.