The Origin of Structures in Wolf-Rayet Winds: FUSE Observations of WR 135

We report the detection with FUSE of strong, highly blue-shifted absorptionfeatures appearing in the absorption troughs of practically all major P Cygniprofiles in the presumably single Wolf-Rayet star WR135. These features alsoappear in the shock-sensitive OVI 1032/38 \AA doublet, coincident both in timeand velocity space with the rest of the lower-ionization species. Choosingbetween two alternative interpretations: large-scale, coherent structures vs.localized, random shocks, we favor the latter. The absolute value of velocity,as well as velocity dispersion in the shocked region, the density of theshocked gas, and the time scales of the observed variability allow us to relatethe observed shocks to the incidence of numerous over-dense clumps (blobs) inthe wind of a hot, massive star.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures; to be published in ApJ