Novel application to estimate the mass-loss and the dust-formation rates in O-type gamma-ray binaries using near-infrared photometry

Abstract

Abstract We have performed the near-infrared photometric monitoring observations of two TeV gamma-ray binaries with O-stars (LS 5039 and 1FGL J1018.6−5856), using IRSF/SIRIUS at SAAO, in order to study the stellar parameters and their perturbations caused by the binary interactions. The whole orbital phase was observed multiple times and no significant variabilities including orbital modulations were detected for both targets. Assuming that the two systems are colliding wind binaries, we estimate the amplitude of flux variation caused by the difference in the optical depth of O-star wind at inferior conjunction, where the star is seen through the cavity created by pulsar wind, and other orbital phases without pulsar-wind intervention. The derived amplitude is <0.001 mag, which is about two orders of magnitude smaller than the observed upper limit. Also using the upper limits of the near-infrared variability, we for the first time obtain the upper limit of the dust formation rate resulting from wind–wind collision in O-star gamma-ray binaries.