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5 Variations of Line Profiles Due to m=1 Perturbation Patterns

We now consider the variabilities in the line profiles from disks with m=1 perturbation patterns. Our interests are in whether the line profiles exhibit variabilities similar to the observed V/R variations, and how the variabilities depend on the adopted perturbation patterns.

Figure 4 shows the line profiles at a phase of 0.25 for different values of , , and . Recall that the profile asymmetry is largest at phases of 0.25 and 0.75. The inclination angle of the disk is . The left panels are for and the right panels for . The panels, from top to bottom, are for 20, 10, and 5, respectively. In each panel four profiles are shown for different values of the characteristic optical depth . They are for , , 10, and from top to bottom, respectively. On both sides of each profile, we give the intensity of the higher peak normalized so that the peak intensity of the unperturbed profile for is unity and the maximum optical depth . Here, is defined by the maximum value among the optical depths along rays through the entire disk, and is regarded as an approximation to .

Note that the line profiles exhibit remarkable V/R asymmetries for a wide range of disk parameters. Furthermore, note that the line center velocity of each optically-thick profile is negative; in other words, the profile as a whole shifts in the direction of the weaker emission component. Thus, the line-profile variabilities from disks with m=1 perturbation patterns are in agreement with the global characteristics of the observed V/R variations.

To study the model line profiles in more detail, we give in table 1 two quantities which characterize the behavior of the line-profile variation. One is the maximum value of the V/R ratio , which is defined by the ratio of the violet and red peak intensities. The other is the radial-velocity displacement defined by the mean of the violet and red peak velocities at the phase of the maximum V/R ratio. Recall that for the observed V/R variations of the Balmer lines.

Let us consider the characteristics of the line-profile variabilities caused by m=1 perturbation patterns. First, we note from table 1 that for a wide range of disk parameters. This means that (in general terms) the one-armed oscillation scenario agrees well with the observed V/R variations. Note that this result is insensitive to the details of the model. Second, we also note that the value of is sensitive to the detailed form of the perturbation patterns adopted. In the present model, for , the V/R ratio varies with a large amplitude, while no significant profile-shift occurs. In contrast, the disks with exhibit large-amplitude V/R variations similar to the observed variations for a wide range of disk sizes and optical depths. This difference in the profile variabilities arises from the difference in the perturbed disk structures for and . Recall that for , the peak velocity is equal to the velocity at the disk outer radius, while for it is equal to the velocity at the radius within which the disk is optically thick for the line. For and , the latter radius is about 3, 4, and 7 for 10, , and , respectively. In our model, the amplitude of the perturbation at the disk outer radius for is much smaller than that at the radius with the optical depth about unity for . As a result, the profile shift for is much smaller than that for . The reason why the amplitude of the V/R variation for is large irrespective of is that the amplitude of the perturbation is large even at the disk outer radius. Note that, in principle, the disk-structure dependent feature of the line-profile variabilities can be used to probe the disk structure of Be stars, although the present model is too simple to enable us to extract any detailed information concerning the disk structure from the observed variabilities.

To illustrate the behavior of the profile variations more explicitly, we present some examples of the V/R variations in figure 5. In this figure, and the inclination angle i is . Figure 5 shows the line-profile variabilities due to the fundamental modes for (left) and (right). The oscillation periods of the modes are for and for . The panels correspond to , , and 10 from top to bottom, respectively. In each panel the line-profile variability is shown by the profiles at eight different phases. The vertical dash-dotted lines denote the peak velocities of the unperturbed profiles. For , the peak velocities show little time variabilities, although the V/R ratios vary significantly. In contrast, for , the peak velocities as well as the V/R ratios exhibit remarkable variations when . Note that the range of for these remarkable variations roughly covers the observed range of H-line optical depth.

In summary, line profiles from the disks perturbed by the m=1 perturbation patterns exhibit long-term V/R variations similar to the observed variations of the Balmer lines. These V/R variations occur for a wide range of disk sizes () and optical depths (). In the present model, the amplitude of the V/R variation is larger for disks with steep () density gradients than for disks with flat () density gradients.



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Next: 6 Summary Up: Abstract Previous: 4 Emission-Line Profiles from



Atsuo Okazaki
平成9年1月6日 (月), 午後 6時16分22秒