[Normal Stars and WD -- Oral ]
Collisionless plasmas in WR140, $\eta$~Carinae and other colliding-wind
systems.
Andy Pollock, XMM-SOC European Space Agency
Michael F. Corcoran (USRA-CRESST/NASA-GSFC)
The several-year orbits of the most X-ray brilliant colliding-wind
systems WR140 (WC7+O5) and $\eta$~Carinae (LBV) up to their nearly
simultaneous periastron passages in 2009 January have given the opportunity
to make direct high-resolution measurements of the collisionless plasma
at different orbital phases. The clear differences are compared with the
predictions of analytical and numerical models of the physics and
dynamics involved. They also provide outstanding elemental abundance
estimates for stellar evolutionary purposes and inform the shock physics
at work in the binary systems in which the majority of massive stars are
formed.