W. -R. Hamann
We present a comprehensive analysis of Cyg X-1, utilizing archival high-resolution UV and optical spectra in conjunction with sophisticated atmospheric models. Notably, this is the first investigation to simultaneously analyze UV and…
Recently, a powerful magnetic field was discovered in the hot helium star classified as a quasi-Wolf-Rayet star of ~2Msun, member of the HD45166 system. Upon its explosion as a core-collapse supernova, it is expected to produce a strongly…
The winds of massive stars remove a significant fraction of their mass, strongly impacting their evolution. As a star evolves, the rate at which it loses mass changes. In stellar evolution codes, different mass-loss recipes are employed for…
To study stars analogous to those in the early Universe with redshift z > 3, we need to probe environments with low metallicities. Until recently, massive O-type stars with metallicities lower than that of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC, Z…
Massive stars lead the ionization and mechanical feedback within young star-forming regions. The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is an ideal galaxy for studying individual massive stars and quantifying their feedback contribution to the…
NGC 346 is a young cluster with numerous hot OB stars. It is part of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), and has an average metallicity that is one-seventh of the Milky Way's. A detailed study of its stellar content provides a unique…
On the route towards merging neutron stars and stripped-envelope supernovae, binary population synthesis predicts a large number of post-interaction systems with massive stars that have stripped off their outer layers. Yet, observations of…
Ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are high-mass X-ray binaries with an X-ray luminosity above $10^{39}$ erg s$^{-1}$. These ULXs can be powered by black holes that are more massive than $20M_\odot$, accreting in a standard regime, or…
CONTEXT: The spectral analysis of hot, massive stars is a fundamental astrophysical method to obtain their intrinsic properties and their feedback. Quantitative spectroscopy for hot, massive stars requires detailed numerical modeling of the…
Using the medium resolution spectrograph X-shooter, spectra of 235 OB and Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars in sub-solar metallicity environments have been secured. [...]This second paper focuses on the optical observations of 232 Magellanic Clouds…
The winds of massive stars have an impact on stellar evolution and on the surrounding medium. The maximum speed reached by these outflows, the terminal wind speed, is a global wind parameter and an essential input for models of stellar…
Stellar evolution theory predicts the existence of He-core remnants of the primary components of intermediate-mass close binaries that lost most of their H/He envelopes due to the mass exchange. They are expected to be observed as (1-7)…
Observations of individual massive stars, super-luminous supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, and gravitational-wave events involving spectacular black-hole mergers, indicate that the low-metallicity Universe is fundamentally different from our…
Standard binary evolutionary models predict a significant population of core helium-burning stars that lost their hydrogen-rich envelope after mass transfer via Roche-lobe overflow. However, there is a scarcity of observations of such…
The origin of the observed population of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars in low-metallicity (low-Z) galaxies, such as the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), is not yet understood. Standard, single-star evolutionary models predict that WR stars should stem…
M33 X-7 is the only known eclipsing black hole high mass X-ray binary. The system is reported to contain a very massive O supergiant donor and a massive black hole in a short orbit. The high X-ray luminosity and its location in the…
Massive stars are among the main cosmic engines driving the evolution of star-forming galaxies. Their powerful ionising radiation and stellar winds inject a large amount of energy in the interstellar medium. Furthermore, mass-loss…
The NGC 346 young stellar system and associated N66 giant HII region in the Small Magellanic Cloud are the nearest example of a massive star forming event in a low metallicity ($Z\approx0.2Z_{\odot}$) galaxy. With an age of $\lesssim$3Myr…
We present the analysis of the optical variability of the early, nitrogen-rich Wolf-Rayet (WR) star WR7. The analysis of multi-sector Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) light curves and high-resolution spectroscopic observations…
Massive stars at low metallicity are among the main feedback agents in the early Universe and in present-day star forming galaxies. When in binaries, these stars are potential progenitors of gravitational-wave events. Knowledge of stellar…