COMPTEL limits on 26Al 1.809 MeV line emission from gamma^2 Velorum

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dc.creatorOberlack, U.
dc.creatorWessolowski, U.
dc.creatorDiehl, R.
dc.creatorBennett, K.
dc.creatorBloemen, H.
dc.creatorHermsen, W.
dc.creatorKnödlseder, J.
dc.creatorMorris, D.
dc.creatorSchönfelder, V.
dc.creatorvon Ballmoos, P.
dc.date1999-10-29
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-25T13:47:42Z
dc.descriptionThe Wolf-Rayet binary system gamma^2 Vel (WR 11} is the closest known Wolf-Rayet (WR) star. Recently, its distance has been redetermined by parallax measurements with the HIPPARCOS astrometric satellite yielding 258^{+41}_{-31} pc, significantly lower than previous estimates (300 -- 450 pc). Wolf-Rayet stars have been proposed as a major source of the Galactic 26Al observed at 1.809 MeV. The gamma-ray telescope COMPTEL has previously reported 1.8 MeV emission from the Vela region, yet located closer to the Galactic plane than the position of gamma^2 Vel. We derive an upper 1.8 MeV flux limit of 1.1 10^{-5} ph cm^{-2} s^{-1} (2 σ) for the WR star. With the new distance estimate, COMPTEL measurements place a limit of (6.3^{+2.1}_{-1.4}) 10^{-5} M_\odot the 26Al yield of gamma^2 Vel, thus constrains theories of nucleosynthesis in Wolf-Rayet stars. We discuss the implications in the context of the binary nature of gamma^2 Vel and present a new interpretation of the IRAS Vela shell.
dc.description7 pages, 4 figures, A&A in press
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9910555
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9910555
dc.identifier.urihttps://dspace.dare.co.zw/handle/123456789/20424
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleCOMPTEL limits on 26Al 1.809 MeV line emission from gamma^2 Velorum
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