Abstract. -An atlas of time series of ultraviolet spectra is presented for 10 bright O stars. The spectra were obtained with the International Ultraviolet Explorer during seven observing campaigns lasting several days over a period of 6 years. The UV P Cygni lines in 9 out of the 10 studied stars exhibit a characteristic pattern of variability in the form of discrete absorption components (DACs) migrating through the absorption troughs on a timescale of a day to a week. This pattern is significantly different for each star, but remains relatively constant during the time span of our observations for a given star. A quantitative evaluation of the statistical significance of the variability is given. The winds of a number of stars appear to vary over the full range of wind velocities: from 0 km s −1 up to velocities exceeding the terminal velocity v∞ of the wind as measured by the asymptotic velocity reached by DACs. The amplitude of variability reaches a maximum at about 0.75 v∞ in the unsaturated resonance lines of stars showing DACs. In saturated resonance lines we find distinct changes in the steep blue edge. This edge variability is also found, although with smaller amplitude, in unsaturated resonance lines. The subordinate line of N IV at 1718Å in ξ Per shows weak absorption enhancements at low velocities in the blue-shifted absorption that are clearly associated with the DACs in the UV resonance lines. We interpret these three manifestations of variation as reflecting a single phenomenon. The DACs are the most conspicuous form of the variability. The changes at the edge can often be interpreted as DACs, but superposed on a saturated underlying wind profile; in many cases, however, at the same time two or more absorption events in different stages of their evolution can be identified in the unsaturated profiles, hampering a detailed interpretation of the edge variability. The low velocity absorption enhancements in the subordinate lines are the precursors of DACs when they are formed close to the star. The constancy of the pattern of variability over the years and the (quasi-)periodic recurrence of DACs strongly suggest that rotation of the star is an essential ingredient for controlling wind variability. The observation of low-velocity variations in subordinate lines, which are supposedly formed at the base of the stellar wind, indicate an origin of wind variability close to or at the photosphere of the star. †

Abstract. We present a useful formulation of the surfacevelocity field of a rotating, adiabatically pulsating star, which accounts for the effects of the Coriolis force. We use this model to investigate the observable spectroscopic characteristics of non-radial pulsations. We calculate time series of absorption line profiles in a carefully chosen domain of parameter space. Only mono-periodic spheroidal modes are investigated; atmospheric changes due to the pulsation are neglected. The line-profile variations, as well as their behavior inferred from two well-defined diagnostics, are presented in two-dimensional parameter grids. We show that the intensity variations in time series of theoretical spectra, at each position in the line profile, cannot be described by a single sinusoid: at least one harmonic sinusoid needs to be included. Across the line profile the relative amplitudes and phases of these sinusoids vary independently. The blue-to-red phase difference found at the main pulsation frequency turns out to be an indicator of the degree , rather than the azimuthal order |m|; the phase difference of the variations with the first harmonic frequency is an indicator of |m|. Hence, the evaluation of the variability at the harmonic frequency can improve the results derived from an analysis of observed line profiles. We find, that if line-profile variations at the line center dominate over the variations in the line wings, this does not give conclusive information on the ratio of the horizontal to the vertical pulsational surface motions. Tesseral modes, when observed at not too high inclinations, are as much capable of producing considerable line-profile variations as sectoral modes. We find that, within the limits of our model, the effects of rotation on the appearance of the line-profile variations are important for low-degree sectoral modes, and for the sub-class of the tesseral modes with − m an even number.

Abstract. ω Ori (HD 37490, HR 1934) is a Be star known to have presented variations. In order to investigate the nature and origin of its short-term and mid-term variability, a study is performed of several spectral lines (Hα, Hδ, He i 4471, 4713, 4921, 5876, 6678, C ii 4267, 6578, 6583

Abstract. The colliding-wind binary system WR 140 (HD 193793, WC7pd+O4-5, P = 7.94 yr) was monitored in the ultraviolet by IUE from 1979 to 1994 in 35 short-wavelength high-resolution spectra. An absorption-line radial-velocity solution is obtained from the photospheric lines of the O component, by comparison with a single O star. The resulting orbital parameters, e = 0.87 ± 0.05, ω = 31• ± 9• and KO star = 25 ± 15 km s −1 , confirm the large eccentricity of the orbit, within the uncertainties of previous optical studies. This brings the weighted mean UV-optical eccentricity to e = 0.85 ± 0.04. Occultation of the O-star light by the WC wind and the WC+O colliding-wind region results into orbital modulation of the P-Cygni profiles of the C ii, C iv and Si iv resonance lines. Near periastron passage, the absorption troughs of those resonance-line profiles increase abruptly in strength and width, followed by a gradual decrease. In particular, near periastron the blue black-edges of the P-Cygni absorption troughs shift to larger outflow velocities. We discuss that the apparently larger wind velocity and velocity dispersion observed at periastron could be explained by four phenomena: (i) geometrical resonance-line eclipse effects being the main cause of the observed UV spectral variability, enhanced by sightline crossing of the turbulent wind-wind collision zone; (ii) the possibility of an orbital-plane enhanced WC7 stellar wind; (iii) possible common-envelope acceleration by the combined WC and O stellar radiation fields; and (iv) possible enhanced radiatively driven mass loss due to tidal stresses, focused along the orbiting line of centers.