Related papers: Surface chemical composition of single WNh stars

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…

We derive the physical properties of three WNh stars in the SMC to constrain stellar evolution beyond the main sequence at low metallicity and to investigate the metallicity dependence of the clumping properties of massive stars. We compute…

Aims: Following our comprehensive studies of the WR stars in the Milky Way, we now present spectroscopic analyses of almost all known WN stars in the LMC. Methods: For the quantitative analysis of the wind-dominated emission-line spectra,…

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…

The striking broad emission line spectroscopic appearance of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars has long defied analysis, due to the extreme physical conditions within their line and continuum forming regions. Recently, model atmosphere studies have…

Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars are massive stars that have lost most or all of their hydrogen via powerful stellar winds. Recent observations have indicated that hydrogen-free WR stars have cooler temperatures than those predicted by current…

Comprehensive spectral analyses of the Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars of the nitrogen sequence (i.e.\ the WN subclass) have been performed in a previous paper. However, the distances of these objects were poorly known. Distances have a direct…

While most of the low-mass stars stay hydrogen-rich on their surface throughout their evolution, a considerable fraction of white dwarfs as well as central stars of planetary nebulae have a hydrogen-deficient surface composition. The…

We present a spectral analysis of four LMC WC-type Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars (BAT99-8, BAT99-9, BAT99-11, and BAT99-52) to shed light on two evolutionary questions surrounding massive stars. The first is: are WO-type WR stars more oxygen…

As part of a search for Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars in the Magellanic Clouds, we have discovered a new type of WR star in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). These stars have both strong emission lines, as well as He ii and Balmer absorption lines…

Massive stars that become stripped of their hydrogen envelope through binary interaction or winds can be observed either as Wolf-Rayet stars, if they have optically thick winds, or as transparent-wind stripped-envelope stars. We approximate…

Significant amounts of hydrogen were found in very hot early-type single WN stars in the SMC and the LMC. Recently, we found similar evidence in the Wolf-Rayet star of a short-period LMC binary. We discuss here the relevance of hydrogen for…

Many Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars have optically thick winds that cloak the hydrostatic layers of the underlying star. In these cases, traditional spectral analysis methods are plagued by degeneracies that make it difficult to constrain parameters…

Context. Oxygen sequence Wolf-Rayet (WO) stars represent a very rare stage in the evolution of massive stars. Their spectra show strong emission lines of helium-burning products, in particular highly ionized carbon and oxygen. The…

Classical Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars mark an important stage in the late evolution of massive stars. As hydrogen-poor massive stars, these objects have lost their outer layers, while still losing further mass through strong winds indicated by…

(abridged) We propose the new designation ``WNH'' for luminous Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars of the nitrogen sequence with H in their spectra. These are commonly called WNL stars (e.g., WN7h), but this new shorthand avoids confusion because there…

As part of our ongoing Wolf-Rayet (WR) Magellanic Cloud survey, we have discovered 13 new WRs. However, the most exciting outcome of our survey is not the number of new WRs, but their unique characteristics. Eight of our discoveries appear…

Wolf-Rayet ([WR]) and weak emission-line ($wels$) central stars of planetary nebulae (PNe) have hydrogen-deficient atmospheres, whose origins are not well understood. In the present study, we have conducted plasma diagnostics and abundance…

Massive Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars dominate the radiative and mechanical energy budget of galaxies and probe a critical phase in the evolution of massive stars prior to core-collapse. It is not known whether core He-burning WR stars (classical…

We present a comprehensive analysis of the photometric variability of (presumably single) nitrogen-rich Wolf-Rayet (WN) stars in the Magellanic Clouds, using long-term observations from the OGLE survey. Our sample comprises 47 stars with no…