X-ray emission from O stars

Abstract

Young O stars are strong, hard, and variable X-ray sources; properties that strongly affect their circumstellar and galactic environments. After ≈ 1 Myr, these stars settle down to become steady sources of soft X-rays. I will use high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy and MHD modeling to show that young O stars like θ1 Ori C are well explained by the magnetically channeled wind shock scenario. After their magnetic fields dissipate, older O stars produce X-rays via shock heating in their unstable stellar winds. Here too I will use X-ray spectroscopy and numerical modeling to confirm this scenario. In addition to elucidating the nature and cause of the O star X-ray emission, modeling of the high-resolution X-ray spectra of O supergiants provides strong evidence that mass-loss rates of these O stars have been overestimated. © 2008 International Astronomical Union 2008.