On the effective temperature scale of O stars

Abstract

We rediscuss the temperature of O dwarfs based on new non-LTE line blanketed atmosphere models including stellar winds computed with the CMFGEN code of Hillier & Miller ([CITE]). Compared to the latest calibration of Vacca et al. ([CITE]), the inclusion of line blanketing leads to lower effective temperatures, typically by ~4000 to 1500 K for O3 to O9.5 dwarf stars. The dependence of the –scale on stellar and model parameters – such as mass loss, microturbulence, and metallicity – is explored, and model predictions are compared to optical observations of O stars. Even for an SMC metallicity we find a non-negligible effect of line blanketing on the –scale. The temperature reduction implies downward revisions of luminosities by ~0.1 dex and Lyman continuum fluxes Q0 by approximately 40% for dwarfs of a given spectral type.