Related papers: New mass estimates for massive binary systems: a p…
One objective of the Polstar spectropolarimetry mission is to characterize the degree of nonconservative mass transfer that occurs at various stages of binary evolution, from the initial mass reversal to the late Algol phase. The proposed…
Massive Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars comprise a spectroscopic class characterized by high temperatures (Teff > ~30 kK) and powerful and rapid stellar winds. Hydrogen-rich WR stars represent the most massive stars in existence (M > ~100 Msun),…
This thesis discusses the influence of magnetic fields on the instability of line-driven winds in O-stars and Wolf-Rayet stars. This combination is an important concept to understand the strong, observed winds from Wolf-Rayet stars. In the…
The spectrum of the Wolf-Rayet (WR) star WR 63 contains spectral lines of two different O stars that show regular radial velocity (RV) variations with amplitudes of ~160 and ~225 km/s on a ~4.03 d period. The light-curve shows two narrow…
Vigorous mass loss in the classical Wolf-Rayet (WR) phase is important for the late evolution and final fate of massive stars. We develop spherically symmetric time-dependent and steady-state hydrodynamical models of the radiation-driven…
We present a simple analytical method to describe the structure of a spherically expanding envelope with strong mass outflow. The structure is consistently connected to the hydrostatic stellar interior and provides an adequate description…
This brief review describes radio observations of colliding winds in massive stars starting with the first direct observational support for the colliding-wind model advanced in the early 1990's to explain non-thermal radio and thermal X-ray…
Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars have a severe impact on their environments owing to their strong ionizing radiation fields and powerful stellar winds. Since these winds are considered to be driven by radiation pressure, it is theoretically expected…
The rate at which massive stars eject mass in stellar winds significantly influences their evolutionary path. Cosmic rates of nucleosynthesis, explosive stellar phenomena, and compact object genesis depend on this poorly known facet of…
The majority of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars represent the stripped cores of evolved massive stars who lost most of their hydrogen envelope. In low metallicity environments, such as the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), stellar winds are weaker and…
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…
Gravitational-wave detections have revealed a previously unknown population of stellar mass black holes with masses above $20\, M_{\odot}$. These observations provide a new way to test models of stellar evolution for massive stars. By…
Interacting binaries are of general interest as laboratories for investigating the physics of accretion, which gives rise to the bulk of high-energy radiation in the Galaxy. They allow us to probe stellar evolution processes that cannot be…
We show that the stellar masses implied by our predictions of the wind properties of massive stars are in agreement with masses derived from evolution theory and from direct measurements using spectroscopic binaries, contrary to previous…
Wolf-Rayet stars represent one of the final stages of massive stellar evolution. Relatively little is known about this short-lived phase and we currently lack reliable mass, distance, and binarity determinations for a representative sample.…
Double white dwarf binaries in the Galaxy dominate the gravitational wave sky and would be detectable for an instrument such as LISA. Most studies have calculated the expected gravitational wave signal under the assumption that the binary…
Most stars with birth masses larger than that of our Sun belong to binary or higher order multiple systems. Similarly, most stars have stellar winds. Radiation pressure and multiplicity create outflows of material that remove mass from the…
To investigate if magnetic fields are present in Wolf-Rayet stars, we selected a few stars in the Galaxy and one in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We acquired low-resolution spectropolarimetric observations with the ESO FORS2 instrument…
Stellar winds are a major source of uncertainty in understanding the life and deaths of massive stars. Across studies in the field, prescriptions for stellar winds differ substantially in both their physical assumptions and implementation,…
We present new X-ray and UV observations of the Wolf-Rayet + black hole binary system NGC 300 X-1 with the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. When combined with archival X-ray observations,…