Related papers: Wolf-Rayet stars: recent advances and persisting p…
Massive stars are the engines of the Cosmos, shaping their environments and driving galaxy evolution across cosmic time. Yet, this general textbook picture faces many challenges when trying to turn abstract insights into quantitative…
In this chapter, after a brief introduction and overview of stellar evolution, we discuss the evolution and nucleosynthesis of very massive stars (VMS: M>100 solar masses) in the context of recent stellar evolution model calculations. This…
Grids of models of massive stars ($M \ge$ 20 $M_\odot$) with rotation are computed for metallicities $Z$ ranging from that of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) to that of the Galactic Centre. The hydrostatic effects of rotation, the…
Long gamma-ray bursts involve the most powerful cosmic explosions since the Big Bang. Whilst it has been established that GRBs are related to the death throes of massive stars, the identification of their progenitors has proved challenging.…
We report the detection of WC stars in 5 Wolf-Rayet (WR) galaxies: He 2-10, NGC 3049, NGC 3125, NGC 5253 and Tol 89. The faint broad CIV5808 line requires sufficiently high S/N to be detected explaining the non-detection of this WC feature…
We present new atmosphere models for Wolf-Rayet stars that include a self-consistent solution of the wind hydrodynamics. We demonstrate that the formation of optically thick WR winds can be explained by radiative driving on Fe line…
Context. Oxygen sequence Wolf-Rayet (WO) stars are thought to represent the final evolutionary stage of the most massive stars. The characteristic strong O vi emission possibly originates from an enhanced oxygen abundance in the stellar…
Most population I Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars are the He-rich descendants of the most massive stars (M_i = 25 - 100 M_sun). Evidence has been accumulating over the years that among all pop I WR stars, those of the relatively cool, N-rich subtype…
We construct a speculative scenario for the evolution of Wolf-Rayet central stars of planetary nebula. It is clear from the latest infra-red observations that a new perspective has to be adopted: the simultaneous presence of carbon- and…
In recent years, much studies have focused on determining the origin of the large-scale line-profile and/or photometric patterns of variability displayed by some apparently single Wolf-Rayet stars, with the existence of an unseen…
This review briefly summarizes our knowledge of the X-ray emission from single WN, WC, and WO stars. These stars have relatively modest X-ray luminosities, typically not exceeding L_sun. The analysis of X-ray spectra usually reveals thermal…
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…
The environments surrounding nine Wolf-Rayet stars were studied in molecular emission. Expanding shells were detected surrounding these WR stars (see left panels of Figure 1). The average masses and radii of the molecular cores surrounding…
Most stars will experience episodes of substantial mass loss at some point in their lives. For very massive stars, mass loss dominates their evolution, although the mass loss rates are not known exactly, particularly once the star has left…
An overview of the known Wolf-Rayet (WR) population of the Milky Way is presented, including a brief overview of historical catalogues and recent advances based on infrared photometric and spectroscopic observations resulting in the current…
[Abridged] [...] AIMS: We aim to establish the stellar parameters and mass-loss rates of the Galactic WC stars. These data provide the empirical basis of studies of (i) the role of WC stars in the evolution of massive stars, (ii) the…
Context. Very massive clusters and regions of intense star formation such as the center of our Milky Way contain young, hydrogen-burning stars very close to the Eddington Limit. Formally classified as hydrogen-rich Wolf-Rayet stars, the…
Massive stars are powerful cosmic engines. In the phases immediately preceding core-collapse, massive stars in the Galaxy with $M_i \gtrsim 20$ $M_{\odot}$ may appear as classical Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars. As the final contribution of a…
We summarise recent developments on synthesis models for massive star populations with a particular emphasis on Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars. Quantitative analysis of the stellar content of WR galaxies are reviewed. Comparing observations of WR…
Examination of the temporal variability properties of several strong optical recombination lines in a large sample of Galactic Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars reveals possible trends, especially in the more homogeneous WC than the diverse WN…