Physical conditions in Wolf-Rayet atmospheres

Abstract

A critical discussion of present-day knowledge regarding the Wolf-Rayet atmosphere is presented. It is shown that the large widths usually ascribed to the emission lines are formed by heavy blending, and that the individual components are in many cases seen distinctly on high dispersion coude spectra. Arguments are given to show that the single stars alone do not yield observational information of the exact dynamical conditions in the atmosphere. The results obtained from the binary systems V444 Cygni and CQ Cephei are discussed.