Related papers: A VLT/FLAMES survey for massive binaries in Wester…
Despite the first detection of X-rays from massive stars occurring four decades ago, the physical dependence of the emission mechanism(s) on the underlying stellar and binary properties of the emitters remains uncertain. The young massive…
Massive stars play an important role in both cluster and galactic evolution and the rate at which they lose mass is a key driver of both their own evolution and their interaction with the environment up to and including their SNe…
Observational studies suggest that many OB stars are found within binary systems which may be expected to interact during their lifetimes. Significant mass transfer or merger of both components will modify evolutionary pathways,…
After leaving the main sequence, massive stars undergo complex evolution, still poorly understood. With a population of 100s OB stars, the starburst cluster Westerlund~1 offers an unparallelled environment to study their evolutionary…
Multiwavelength observations of the young massive cluster Westerlund 1 have revealed evidence for a large number of OB supergiant and Wolf-Rayet binaries. However, in most cases these findings are based on secondary binary characteristics…
Because of their large number of stars spread over the entire stellar mass spectrum, starburst clusters are highly suitable to benchmark and calibrate star formation models and theories. Among the handful of Galactic starburst clusters,…
We present new spectroscopic and photometric observations of the young Galactic open cluster Westerlund 1 (Wd 1) that reveal a unique population of massive evolved stars. We identify ~200 cluster members and present spectroscopic…
We present initial results from a long-baseline radial velocity survey for massive binaries in the cluster Westerlund 1. Four systems are examined: the dust-producing WC binary W239, the double-lined eclipsing binary W13, and the…
Current mass-loss rate estimates imply that main sequence winds are not sufficient to strip away the H-rich envelope to yield Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars. The rich transitional population of Westerlund 1 (Wd 1) provides an ideal laboratory to…
The galactic cluster Westerlund 1 contains a rich population of evolved, massive stars, and a high binary fraction has been inferred from previous multiwavelength observations. We use multi-epoch spectroscopy of a large sample of early-type…
The diverse massive stellar population in the young massive cluster Westerlund 1 (Wd~1) provides an ideal laboratory to observe and constrain mass-loss processes throughout the transitional phase of massive star evolution. A set of high…
Massive stars and their stellar winds are important for a number of feedback processes. The mass lost in the stellar wind can help determine the end-point of the star as a NS or a BH. However, the impact of mass-loss on the post-Main…
Westerlund 1 is a young, massive Galactic starburst cluster that contains a rich coeval population of Wolf-Rayet stars, hot- and cool-phase transitional supergiants, and a magnetar. We use spectroscopic and photometric observations of the…
Westerlund 1 is one of the most massive young clusters known in the Local Group, with an age of 3-5 Myr. It contains an assortment of rare evolved massive stars, such as blue, yellow and red supergiants, Wolf-Rayet stars, a luminous blue…
Being the most massive known young stellar cluster in the Milky Way, Westerlund 1 (Wd1) constitutes an ideal benchmark for understanding the evolution of massive stars. However, the cluster age remains highly controversial (~4-10 Myr),…
Massive stars exhibit spectroscopic and photometric variability over a wide range of timescales. However the physical mechanisms driving this behaviour remain poorly understood. Westerlund 1 presents an ideal laboratory for studying these…
With a dynamical mass M_dyn ~ 1.3x10e5 M_sun and a lower limit M_cl>5x10e4 M_sun from star counts, Westerlund 1 is the most massive young open cluster known in the Galaxy and thus the perfect laboratory to study massive star evolution. We…
Serving as the progenitors of electromagnetic and gravitational wave transients, massive stars have received renewed interest in recent years. However, many aspects of their birth and evolution remain opaque, particularly in the context of…
This paper presents the first optical variability study of the Westerlund 1 super star cluster in search of massive eclipsing binary systems. A total of 129 new variable stars have been identified, including the discovery of 4 eclipsing…
There is growing evidence that a treatment of binarity amongst OB stars is essential for a full theory of stellar evolution. However the binary properties of massive stars - frequency, mass ratio and orbital separation - are still poorly…