Wind emission of OB supergiants and the influence of clumping

Abstract

The influence of the wind to the total continuum of OB supergiants is discussed. For wind velocity distributions with β> 1.0, the wind can have strong influence to the total continuum emission, even at optical wavelengths. Comparing the continuum emission of clumped and unclumped winds, especially for stars with high βvalues, delivers flux differences of up to 30% with maximum in the near-IR. Continuum observations at these wavelengths are therefore an ideal tool to discriminate between clumped and unclumped winds of OB supergiants.

3 pages, to appear in the workshop proceedings 'Clumping in Hot Star Winds', eds. W.-R. Hamann, A. Feldmeier, & L. Oskinova