Bibcode
Santolaya-Rey, A. E.; Puls, J.; Herrero, A.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, v.323, p.488-512
Advertised on:
7
1997
Journal
Citations
274
Refereed citations
217
Description
We present a new, fast and easy to use NLTE line formation code for
``unified atmospheres'' with spherical extension and stellar winds,
developed for the (routine) spectroscopic analysis of luminous blue
stars, covering the spectral range from ``A'' to ``O'' and including
central stars of planetary nebulae. The major features of our code are:
Data driven input of atomic models; consistent photospheric
stratification including continuum radiative acceleration and
photospheric extension; ``β-velocity law'' for the wind; comoving
frame or Sobolev plus continuum line transfer; fast solution algorithm
for calculating line profiles, allowing for a consistent treatment of
incoherent electron scattering. We describe the code and perform
thorough tests for models with H/He opacity, especially with respect to
a comparison with plane-parallel, hydrostatic models in cases of thin
winds. Our conclusions are: Due in particular to our numerical treatment
of the radiative transfer in the ionization and recombination integrals,
the convergence rate of the solution algorithm is fast. The flux
conservation is good, (maximum flux errors of order 2 to 3%), unless the
atmospheric conditions are extreme, either with respect to mass-loss or
to a large extension of the photosphere. (In these cases, our treatment
of the temperature structure has to be improved). A comparison with
plane-parallel results shows perfect agreement with the thin wind case.
However, this comparison also reveals two interesting effects: First,
the strength of the Hei lines in hot O-stars is very sensitive to the
treatment of electron scattering in the EUV. This might affect the
effective temperature scale of early O spectral types. Second, the
effects of photospheric extension become decisive for the gravity
determination of stars close to the Eddington limit. Finally, we
demonstrate the differences in using the Sobolev vs. the comoving line
transfer in the rate equations. We conclude that, in cases of moderate
wind densities, comoving frame line transfer is inevitable for accurate
quantitative work.