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[8.01] Clumps in the Wolf-Rayet Wind of the Eclipsing Binary V444 Cygni

S.V. Marchenko (Western Kentucky U.), Y. Grosdidier (Dept. of Physics, McGill U., Canada), A.F.J. Moffat (Dépt. de Physique, U. Montréal, Canada), E. Wood, R. Zimmerman (Western Kentucky U.)

Among close, massive stellar systems comprising Wolf-Rayet and Main Sequence OB stars, the eclipsing binary V444 Cyg is a sort of Rosetta stone, being a universal `yardstick' in studies of mass-loss phenomena. During the past decade, it has become clear that massive hot stars drive inhomogeneous (clumpy) winds. Despite all previous efforts, the clumping rate for the WR component in V444 Cyg has never been properly evaluated. We address the issue by obtaining and analyzing an intense series of simultaneous, high-precision photometry of V444 Cyg in optical (0.503\mum) and near-IR (2.228\mum) bands. The latter leads to a much broader secondary eclipse (when the O-star is at inferior conjunction) than the former, depending on the degree of clumping.

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35 #3
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.