Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) are believed to be evolved, extremely massive stars close to the Eddington Limit and hence prone to bouts of large-scale, unstable mass loss. I discuss current understanding of the evolutionary state of these objects, the role duplicity may play and known physical characteristics of these stars using the X-ray luminous LBVs Eta Carinae and HD 5980 as test cases.
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0702457,
title = {Eta Car and other LBVs},
author = {M. F. Corcoran},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0702457},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
to appear in the Proceedings of "Massive Stars: Fundamental Parameters and Circumstellar Interactions"