Related papers: Pulsation-Initiated Mass Loss in Luminous Blue Var…
We present the properties of the recently discovered class of variable stars, Blue Large-Amplitude Pulsators (BLAPs). These extremely rare, short-period pulsating objects were detected thanks to regular, high-cadence observations of…
The FU Orionis (FUor) or EX Orionis (EXor) phenomenon has attracted increasing attention in recent years and is now accepted as a crucial element in the early evolution of low-mass stars. FUor and EXor eruptions of young stellar objects…
We first report that, for planar nematic MBBA, the electroconvection threshold voltage has a nonmonotonic temperature dependence, with a well-defined minimum, and a slope of about 0.12 V/degree near room temperature. Motivated by this…
The mechanism of X-ray outbursts in Be X-ray binaries remains a mystery, and understanding their circumstellar disks is crucial for a solution of the mass-transfer problem. In particular, it is important to identify the Be star activities…
I discuss observational evidence -- independent of the direct spectral diagnostics of stellar winds themselves -- suggesting that mass-loss rates for O stars need to be revised downward by roughly a factor of three or more, in line with…
Clumping in the winds of massive stars may significantly reduce empirical mass-loss rates, and which in turn may have a large impact on our understanding of massive star evolution. Here, we investigate wind-clumping through the linear…
Despite both being outbursts of luminous blue variables (LBVs), SN 2009ip and UGC 2773 OT2009-1 have very different progenitors, spectra, circumstellar environments, and possibly physical mechanisms that generated the outbursts. From…
It is shown for the first time that the stripped helium stars with masses 2 to 7 solar mass which are formed in close binary systems in the so-called case B of mass-exchange and retained low-mass hydrogen-helium envelopes, experience…
Hot luminous stars show a variety of phenomena in their photospheres and in their winds which still lack clear physical explanations at this time. Among these phenomena are non-thermal line broadening, line profile variability (LPVs),…
Almost all massive stars explode as supernovae and form a black hole or neutron star. The remnant mass and the impact of the chemical yield on subsequent star formation and galactic evolution strongly depend on the internal physics of the…
We study mass loss from the outer Lagrange point (L2) in binary stellar mergers and their luminous transients by means of radiative hydrodynamical simulations. Previously, we showed that for binary mass ratios 0.06 < q < 0.8, synchronous L2…
Young stellar objects are thought to commonly undergo sudden accretion events that result in a rise in bolometric luminosity. These outbursts likely coincide with the onset of planet formation, and could impact the formation of planets. The…
Towards the end of their evolution hot massive stars develop strong stellar winds and appear as emission line stars, such as WR stars or LBVs. The quantitative description of the mass loss in these important pre-SN phases is hampered by…
We examine radiatively driven mass loss from stars near and above the Eddington limit (Ledd). We begin by reviewing the instabilities that are expected to form extensive structure near Ledd. We investigate how this "porosity" can reduce the…
(Abridged) We interpret gamma ray bursts as relativistic, electromagnetic explosions. Specifically, we propose that they are created when a rotating, relativistic, stellar-mass progenitor loses much of its rotational energy in the form of a…
LS I +61303 is a gamma-ray binary with periodic radio outbursts coincident with the orbital period of P=26.5 d. The origin of the radio emission is unclear,it could be due either to a jet, as in microquasars, or to the shock boundary…
CCD photometry in the V band is presented for 7 field RR Lyrae stars selected from a sample of eight variables which, according to data collected in the literature, are expected to be {\it ab}-type pulsators, to have short periods and hence…
We calculate the synchrotron self-Compton emission from internal shocks occurring in relativistic winds as a source of gamma-ray bursts, with allowance for self-absorption. For plausible model parameters most pulses within a Gamma-Ray Burst…
In this work we present the spectrum modeling results for the newly discovered luminous blue variable (LBV) in the NGC 1156 galaxy. Extended atmosphere models were calculated using the non-LTE code CMFGEN. We have obtained the luminosity of…
A quantitative study of the Luminous Blue Variable NGC 2363-V1 in the Magellanic galaxy NGC 2366 (D = 3.44 Mpc) is presented, based on ultraviolet and optical HST/STIS spectroscopy. Contemporary WFPC2 and WHT imaging reveals a modest V-band…