Related papers: Radiation-Driven Stellar Eruptions
We use the analysis of the heavy element abundances (C, N, O, S) in circumstellar nebulae around Luminous Blue Variables to infer the evolutionary phase in which the material has been ejected. (1) We discuss the different effects that may…
Winds blown from accretion disks formed inside massive rotating stars may result in stellar explosions observable as Type Ibc and Type II supernovae. A key feature of the winds is their ability to produce the radioactive Nickel-56 necessary…
Late in their evolution, massive stars may undergo periods of violent instability and mass loss, but the mechanism responsible for these episodes has not been identified. We study one potential contributor: the development of local…
A number of stellar astrophysical phenomena, such as tidal novae and planetary engulfment, involve sudden injection of sub-binding energy in a thin layer within the star, leading to mass ejection of the stellar envelope. We use a 1D…
Pre-supernova (SN) outbursts from massive stars may be driven by hydrodynamical wave energy emerging from the core of the progenitor star during late nuclear burning phases. Here, we examine the effects of wave heating in stars containing…
The observational diversity of ``gamma-ray bursts'' (GRBs) has been increasing, and the natural inclination is a proliferation of models. We explore the possibility that at least part of this diversity is a consequence of a single basic…
The high luminosity of massive, early-type stars drives strong stellar winds through line scattering of the stars continuum radiation. Their momenta contribute substantially to the dynamics and energetics of the ambient interstellar medium…
Regular intrinsic brightness variations observed in many stars are caused by pulsations. These pulsations provide information on the global and structural parameters of the star. The pulsation periods range from seconds to years, depending…
Every supernova hitherto observed has been considered to be the terminal explosion of a star. Moreover, all supernovae with absorption lines in their spectra show those lines decreasing in velocity over time, as the ejecta expand and thin,…
Interstellar superbubbles generated by multiple supernova explosions are common in star-forming galaxies. They are the most obvious manifestation of mechanical feedback, and are largely responsible for transferring both thermal and kinetic…
This paper discusses a model where a violent periastron collision of stars in an eccentric binary system induces an eruption or explosion seen as a brief transient source, attributed to LBVs, SN impostors, or other transients. The key…
Massive stars are essential to understand a variety of branches of astronomy including galaxy and star cluster evolution, nucleosynthesis and supernovae, pulsars and black holes. It has become evident that massive star evolution is very…
One of the most dramatic possible consequences of stellar rotation is its influence on stellar death, particularly of massive stars. If the angular momentum of the iron core when it collapses is such as to produce a neutron star with a…
Supernovae explosions of massive stars are nowadays believed to result from a two-step process, with an initial gravitational core collapse followed by an expansion of matter after a bouncing on the core. This scenario meets several…
The current picture of the collapse and explosion of massive stars and the formation of neutron stars is reviewed. According to the favored scenario, however by no means proven and undisputed, neutrinos deposit the energy of the explosion…
The formation of stars from gas drives the evolution of galaxies. Yet, it remains one of the hardest processes to understand when trying to connect observations of stellar and galaxy populations to models of large scale structure formation.…
Some reports of supernova (SN) discoveries turn out not to be true core-collapse explosions. One such case was SN 2009ip, which was recognized to be a luminous blue variable (LBV) eruption. This source had a massive hot progenitor star…
The stellar origin of gamma-ray bursts can be explained by the rapid release of energy in a highly collimated, extremely relativistic jet. This in turn appears to require a rapidly spinning highly magnetised stellar core that collapses into…
During the post-main sequence evolution massive stars pass through several short-lived phases, in which they experience enhanced mass loss in the form of clumped winds and mass ejection events of unclear origin. The discovery that stars…
The rapidly growing base of observational data for supernova explosions of massive stars demands theoretical explanations. Central of these is a self-consistent model for the physical mechanism that provides the energy to start and drive…