Related papers: L-band spectroscopy of Galactic OB-stars
We review recent developments regarding radiation driven mass loss from OB-stars. We first summarize the fundamental theoretical predictions, and then compare these to observational results (including the VLT-FLAMES survey of massive…
Mass loss is a key physical process in the evolution of massive stars, the impact of which propagates into galactic evolution, population synthesis models, the interpretation of high-redshift galaxies, and explosive events such as…
Mass loss is a key process in the evolution of massive stars, and must be understood quantitatively to be successfully included in broader astrophysical applications. In this review, we discuss various aspects of radiation driven mass loss,…
Recent results strongly challenge the canonical picture of massive star winds: various evidence indicates that currently accepted mass-loss rates, Mdot, may need to be revised downwards significantly. This is because the most commonly used…
We constrain wind parameters of a sample of 18 O-type stars in the LMC, through analysis with stellar atmosphere and wind models including the effects of optically thick clumping. This allows us to determine the most accurate spectroscopic…
The most massive stars are thought to lose a significant fraction of their mass in a steady wind during the main-sequence and blue supergiant phases. This in turn sets the stage for their further evolution and eventual supernova, with…
Mass loss governs the evolution of massive stars and shapes the stellar surroundings. To quantify the impact of the stellar winds we need to know the exact mass-loss rates; however, empirical constraints on the rates are hampered by limited…
Mass-loss rates currently in use for hot, massive stars have recently been seriously questioned, mainly because of the effects of wind clumping. We investigate the impact of clumping on diagnostic ultraviolet resonance and optical…
We investigate the impact of optically thick clumping on stellar wind diagnostics in O supergiants and constrain wind parameters associated with porosity in velocity space. This is the first time the effects of optically thick clumping have…
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 study the stellar and wind properties of a sample of Galactic O dwarfs to track the conditions under which weak winds (i.e mass loss rates lower than ~ 1e-8 Msol/yr) appear. The sample is composed of low and high luminosity dwarfs…
It is observationally as well as theoretically well established that the winds of hot, massive OB-stars are highly structured on a broad range of spatial scales. This paper first discusses consequences of the small-scale structures…
Nearly all types of massive stars with radiatively driven stellar winds are X-ray sources that can be observed by the presently operating powerful X-ray telescopes. In this review I briefly address recent advances in our understanding of…
We probe the radial clumping stratification of OB stars in the intermediate and outer wind regions (r>~2 R*) to derive upper limits for mass-loss rates, and compare to current mass-loss implementation. Together with archival…
Small-scale inhomogeneities, or `clumping', in the winds of hot, massive stars are conventionally included in spectral analyses by assuming optically thin clumps. To reconcile investigations of different diagnostics using this microclumping…
Context: The mass-loss rate is a key parameter of massive stars. Adequate stellar atmosphere models are required for spectral analyses and mass-loss determinations. Present models can only account for the inhomogeneity of stellar winds in…
Context. Current implementations of mass loss for hot, massive stars in stellar evolution models include a sharp increase in mass loss when blue supergiants become cooler than Teff 20-22kK. This drastic mass-loss jump has been motivated by…
Analyses of Galactic late O dwarfs (O8-O9.5V) raised the `weak wind problem': spectroscopic mass loss rates ($\dot{M}$) are up to two orders of magnitude lower than the theoretical values. We investigated the stellar and wind properties of…
Mass loss through a stellar wind is an important physical process that steers the evolution of massive stars and controls the properties of their end-of-life products, such as the supernova type and the mass of compact remnants. For an…
Mass-loss from massive stars is fundamental to stellar and galactic evolution and enrichment of the interstellar medium. Reliable determination of mass-loss rate is dependent upon unravelling details of massive star outflows, including…