Open questions in massive star research
Abstract
In discussing open question in the field of massive stars, I consider their evolution from birth to death. After touching upon massive star formation, which may be bi-modal and not lead to a zero-age main sequence at the highest masses, I consider the consequences of massive stars being close to their Eddington limit. Then, when discussing the effects of a binary companion, I highlight the importance of massive Algols and contact binaries for understanding the consequences of mass transfer, and the role of binaries in forming Wolf-Rayet stars. Finally, a discussion on pair instability supernovae and of superluminous supernovae is provided.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2209.04165,
title = {Open questions in massive star research},
author = {N. Langer},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2209.04165},
year = {2024}
}
Comments
to appear in Proceedings for IAU Symposium 361: Massive Stars Near and Far, held in Ballyconnell, Ireland, 9-13 May 2022, N. St-Louis, J. S. Vink & J. Mackey, eds