Related papers: Direct spectroscopic observations of clumping in O…
Extreme helium stars are very rare low-mass supergiants in a late stage of evolution. They are probably contracting to become white dwarfs following a violent phase of evolution which caused them to become hydrogen-deficient giants,…
Galactic winds are a prime suspect for the metal enrichment of the intergalactic medium and may have a strong influence on the chemical evolution of galaxies and the nature of QSO absorption line systems. We use a sample of 1406 galaxy…
In this contribution I summarize our current knowledge of the nature and significance of starburst-driven galactic winds (``superwinds''). Superwinds are complex multiphase outflows of cool, warm, and hot gas, dust, and magnetized…
We provide an observational view of evolutionary models in the Hertzsprung--Russell diagram, on the main sequence. For that we computed evolutionary models with the code STAREVOL for 15 < M/Msun < 100. We subsequently calculated atmosphere…
High-mass microquasars consist of a massive star and a compact object, the latter producing jets that will interact with the stellar wind. The evolution of the jets, and ultimately their radiative outcome, could depend strongly on the…
Observations with the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) SWS spectrometer are used to constrain the velocity law and wind clumping of the well-studied Wolf-Rayet (WR) star WR 136 (HD 192163) (WN6). Because the free-free continuum opacity in…
Accurately quantifying the rates dM/dt at which massive stars lose mass is essential to any understanding of their evolution. All dM/dt estimates to date assume wind clumping factors; not allowing for clumping leads to overestimates of…
We derive the physical properties of three WNh stars in the SMC to constrain stellar evolution beyond the main sequence at low metallicity and to investigate the metallicity dependence of the clumping properties of massive stars. We compute…
Context: The environments of young star clusters are shaped by the interactions of the powerful winds of massive stars, and their feedback on the cluster birth cloud. Several such clusters show diffuse gamma-ray emission on the degree…
We discuss recent evidence that currently accepted mass-loss rates may need to be revised downwards, as a consequence of previously neglected ``clumping'' of the wind. New results on the radial stratification of the corresponding clumping…
Context. Clumping is a common property of stellar winds and is being incorporated to a solution of the radiative transfer equation coupled with kinetic equilibrium equations. However, in static hot model atmospheres, clumping and its…
This paper discusses our ongoing efforts to characterize dust-enshrouded Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars in the radio and infrared. We have used the Very Large Array to measure the broadband radio spectrum of WR stars in suspected binary systems and…
Our understanding of massive star evolution is in flux, due to recent upheavals in our view of mass loss, and observations of a high binary fraction among O-type stars. Mass-loss rates for standard metallicity-dependent winds of hot stars…
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…
High-resolution X-ray spectra of O-type stars revealed less wind absorption than expected from smooth winds with conventional mass-loss rates. Various solutions have been proposed, including porous winds, optically thick clumps or an…
Galactic winds are observed in many spiral galaxies with sizes from dwarfs up to the Milky Way, and they sometimes carry a mass in excess of that of newly formed stars by up to a factor of ten. Multiple driving processes of such winds have…
The launch of high-spectral-resolution x-ray telescopes (Chandra, XMM) has provided a host of new spectral line diagnostics for the astrophysics community. In this paper we discuss Doppler-broadened emission line profiles from highly…
INTEGRAL, the European Space Agency's gamma-ray observatory, tripled the number of super-giant high-mass X-ray binaries (sgHMXB) known in the Galaxy by revealing absorbed and fast transient (SFXT) systems. In these sources, quantitative…
In this contribution I summarize our current knowledge of the nature and significance of starburst-driven galactic superwinds. These flows are driven primarily by the kinetic energy supplied by supernovae. Superwinds are complex, multiphase…
The flow generated by low-density radiatively driven winds which decouple their gas and radiation fields is discussed. In particular we concentrate on flow which is still bound to the star and can therefore reaccrete. The wind decelerates…