English

Fifty Years of CAK

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2025-06-10 v1 Astrophysics of Galaxies High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Abstract

We present a new framework for massive star evolution that is no longer driven by Dutch or other mass-loss rate Recipes, but which take the physics of Gamma or L/M dependent mass loss consistently into account. We first discuss the hot-star mass-loss kink and the transition mass loss rate between optically thin and thick winds, before discussing vertical stellar evolution, mass evaporation, and the maximum black hole (BH) mass. We end with a suggestion that a recently uncovered red supergiant (RSG) kink might be related to similar underlying L/M physics as the hot-star kink.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2506.06421,
  title  = {Fifty Years of CAK},
  author = {Jorick S. Vink},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2506.06421},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

4 figures, 7 pages, StanFest Meeting to honour the scientific achievements of Prof Stan Owocki, July 2024