Related papers: New mass estimates for massive binary systems: a p…
The recently discovered burst of gravitational waves GW150914 provides a good new chance to verify the current view on the evolution of close binary stars. Modern population synthesis codes help to study this evolution from two main…
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,…
We present optical (UBVRI) linear polarimetric observations of 8 Wolf-Rayet (WR) massive binaries and single stars. We have corrected the observed values for the interstellar extinction and polarization by the interstellar medium to obtain…
[Abridged] Context: Radiation-driven mass loss plays a key role in the life-cycles of massive stars. However, basic predictions of such mass loss still suffer from significant quantitative uncertainties. Aims: We develop new…
We present observationally determined mass distributions of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars in WR+OB binaries and black holes (BH) in spectroscopic binaries. Both WR and BH mass probability distributions can be well approximated by unbiased…
Massive stars lose a large fraction of their mass to radiation-driven winds throughout their entire life. These outflows impact both the life and death of these stars and their surroundings. Theoretical mass-loss rates of hot, massive stars…
One of the main properties of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars is a very intense outflow of gas. No less than 40\% \ of WR stars belong to binary systems. Young massive O and B stars are the secondary components of such systems. OB stars also have an…
CX Cep (WR 151) is the WR+O binary (WN5+O5V) with the second shortest period known in our Galaxy. To examine the circumstellar matter distribution and to better constraint the orbital parameters and mass-loss rate of the WR star, we…
Massive star feedback affects the evolution of galaxies, where the most massive stars may have the largest impact. The majority of massive stars are born as members of close binary systems. Here, we investigate detailed evolutionary models…
Using a code that employs a self-consistent method for computing the effects of photoionization on circumstellar gas dynamics, we model the formation of wind-driven nebulae around massive Wolf-Rayet (W-R) stars. Our algorithm incorporates a…
Spectroscopic observations have shown for decades that the Wolf-Rayet (WR) phenomenon is ubiquitous among stars with different initial masses. Although much effort to understand the winds from massive WR stars has been presented in the…
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…
Large wind kinetic power of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars make them ideal targets in low radio frequencies to search for non-thermal emission due to relativistic particle acceleration. In this paper, we present observations of two WR stars, WR 114…
Line-driven stellar winds are ubiquitous among hot massive stars. In some cases they can become so strong, that the whole star is cloaked by an optically thick wind. The strong outflow gives rise to large emission lines, defining the class…
Massive binary evolution models are needed to predict massive star populations in star forming galaxies, the supernova diversity, and the number and properties of gravitational wave sources. Such models are often computed using so called…
Knowing the masses of the components of binary systems is very useful to constrain the possible scenarios that could lead to their existence. While it is sometimes possible to determine the mass of the primary star, for single-lined…
Some isolated Wolf-Rayet stars present random variability in their optical flux and polarization. We make the assumption that such variability is caused by the presence of regions of enhanced density, i.e. blobs, in their envelopes. In…
The effects of nonequilibrium ionization are explicitly taken into account in a numerical model which describes colliding stellar winds (CSW) in massive binary sytems. This new model is used to analyze the most recent X-ray spectra of the…
Gravitational waves from merging binary black holes can be used to shed light on poorly understood aspects of massive binary stellar evolution, such as the evolution of massive stars (including their mass-loss rates), the common envelope…
Key physical ingredients governing the evolution of massive stars are mass losses, convection and mixing in radiative zones. These effects are important both in the frame of single and close binary evolution. The present paper addresses two…