Related papers: The Blue supergiant problem and the main-sequence …
We conduct a rigorous examination of the nearby red supergiant Betelgeuse by drawing on the synthesis of new observational data and three different modeling techniques. Our observational results include the release of new, processed…
Recent advances in the calculation of the $b\to s\gamma$ decay branching ratio are presented in the context of supersymmetric theories. Theoretical accuracy increased by inclusion of the next-to-leading order QCD corrections makes it…
Gravitational waves from black-hole merging events have revealed a population of extra-galactic BHs residing in short-period binaries with masses that are higher than expected based on most stellar evolution models - and also higher than…
Spectroscopic studies of Galactic O and B stars show that many stars with masses above 8 M$_{\odot}$ are observed in the HR diagram just beyond the Main-Sequence (MS) band predicted by stellar models computed with a moderate overshooting.…
We present comprehensive multiwavelength observations of three gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with durations of several thousand seconds. We demonstrate that these events are extragalactic transients; in particular we resolve the long-standing…
The mixing of material from stellar convective cores into their adjacent radiative layers has been a matter of long-standing debate. Pulsating subdwarf B stars offer excellent conditions to advance our understanding of this problem. In this…
A supergiants are objects in transition from the blue to the red (and vice versa) in the uppermost HRD. They are the intrinsically brightest "normal" stars at visual light with absolute visual magnitudes up to -9. They are ideal to study…
OBA hypergiants (OBAHGs) are evolved massive stars with notable wind features in their optical spectrum. Located at the cool edge of the line-driven wind regime, many are candidate luminous blue variables (LBVs) likely near the Eddington…
We present new evidence for a problem with cooling rates predicted by substellar evolutionary models that implies model-derived masses in the literature for brown dwarfs and directly imaged planets may be too high. Based on our dynamical…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) comprise of short, bright, energetic flashes of emission from extragalactic sources followed by a longer afterglow phase of decreased brightness. Recent discoveries of very-high-energy (VHE, $\gtrsim 100$ GeV)…
The B[e] phenomenon discovered nearly 50 years ago features the presence of forbidden emission lines due to extended and dense circumstellar gas and large IR excesses due to the radiation from circumstellar dust in a wide variety of objects…
The detection of gravitational waves together with their electromagnetic counterpart, in the gamma-ray burst GRB 170817A, marked a new era of multi-messenger astronomy. Several theoretical models have been proposed to explain the atypical…
The young SMC cluster NGC 330 contains a number of blue stars that lie above the main-sequence turnoff found from our isochrone fitting and below the position of the blue supergiants. We used our own, new spectroscopy and published data on…
Light emission in the first hours and days following core-collapse supernovae is dominated by the escape of photons from the expanding shock-heated envelope. In preceding papers, we provided a simple analytic description of the…
Observations from Juno and Cassini suggest that Jupiter and Saturn may possess fuzzy cores -- central regions where the abundance of heavy elements varies smoothly with depth. Such gradients pose a longstanding puzzle for models of…
Ultra-long gamma ray bursts (ULGRBs) are a distinct class of GRBs characterized by durations of several thousands of seconds, about two orders of magnitude longer than those of standard long GRBs (LGRBs). The driving engine of these events…
LB-1 has recently been proposed to be a binary system at 4 kpc consisting of a B star of 8 Msol and a massive stellar black hole of 70 Msol. This finding challenges our current theories of massive star evolution and formation of BHs at…
Red supergiant stars represent a key phase in the evolution of massive stars. Recent radiative hydrodynamic simulations suggest that their atmospheres may be the location of large-scale convective motions. As supergiant convection is…
We constructed hydrodynamical model atmospheres for mid M-type main-, as well as pre-main-sequence objects. Despite the complex chemistry encountered in such cool atmospheres a reasonably accurate representation of the radiative transfer is…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) usually occurs in a dense star-forming region with massive circum-burst medium. The small-angle scattering of intense prompt X-ray emission off the surrounding dust grains will have observable consequences, and…