Dust Formation Events in Colliding Winds: an application to eta Car

Abstract

Recent IR observations indicate that many massive binary systems present dust formation episodes, in regions close to the stars, during the periastron passage. These systems are known to be high-energy sources, and it is believed that wind collisions are the origin of the emission. In this work we show that wind collisions not only increase the X-ray emission but also allow dust formation. As an application we study eta Car, which presents, near periastron, an increase in the X-ray emission followed by a sudden decrease that lasts for about a month. We reproduce this feature calculating the optical depth due to dust formation along the orbital period.

proceedings of "Winds, Bubbles and Explosions - in honour to John Dyson" - Patzcuaro, Mexico (Sep 2002)