Related papers: Interpretative Modeling of Structured Winds Using …
Over the last years a new generation of model atmosphere codes, which include the effects of metal line-blanketing of millions of spectral lines in NLTE, has been used to re-determine the properties of massive stars through quantitative…
We use a 3D Monte Carlo radiative transfer code to study the polarimetric and photometric variability from stationary corotating interaction regions (CIR) in the wind of massive stars. Our CIRs are approximated by Archimedean spirals of…
Interstellar polarization from aligned dust grains can be measured both in transmission at visible and near-infrared wavelengths and in emission at far-infrared and sub-mm wavelengths. These observations can help predict the behavior of…
Although rare, massive stars, being the main sources of ionizing radiation, chemical enrichment and mechanical energy in the Galaxy, are the most important objects of the stellar population. This review presents the many different aspects…
Massive stars, at least $\sim$ 10 times more massive than the Sun, have two key properties that make them the main drivers of evolution of star clusters, galaxies, and the Universe as a whole. On the one hand, the outer layers of massive…
Polarized scattering in planetary atmospheres is computed in the context of exoplanets. The problem of polarized radiative transfer is solved for a general case of absorption and scattering, while Rayleigh and Mie polarized scattering are…
Mass-loss and radiation feedback from evolving massive stars produce galactic-scale superwinds, sometimes surrounded by pressure-driven bubbles. Using the time-dependent stellar population typically seen in star-forming regions, we conduct…
The polarimetric and photometric variability of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars as caused by clumps in the winds, is revisited. In the model which is improved from Li et al. 2000, the radial expansion of the thickness is accounted for, but we retain…
It is becoming clear that the atmospheres of the young, self-luminous extrasolar giant planets imaged to date are dusty. Planets with dusty atmospheres may exhibit detectable amounts of linear polarization in the near-infrared, as has been…
We review the state of the art for measuring the X-ray polarization of neutron stars. We discuss how valuable precision measurements of the degree and position angle of polarization as a function of energy and, where relevant, of pulse…
Understanding magnetic field strength and morphology is very important for studying astrophysical jets. Polarization signatures have been a standard way to probe the jet magnetic field. Radio and optical polarization monitoring programs…
Gravitational microlensing, when finite size source effects are relevant, provides an unique tool for the study of source star stellar atmospheres through an enhancement of a characteristic polarization signal. This is due to the…
Polstar is a proposed NASA MIDEX space telescope that will provide high-resolution, simultaneous full-Stokes spectropolarimetry in the far ultraviolet, together with low-resolution linear polarimetry in the near ultraviolet. This…
We review recent developments regarding radiation driven mass loss from OB-stars. We first summarize the fundamental theoretical predictions, and then compare these to observational results (including the VLT-FLAMES survey of massive…
Context: Starbursts, and particularly their high-mass stars, play an essential role in the evolution of galaxies. The winds of massive stars not only significantly influence their surroundings, but the mass loss also profoundly affects the…
We present a new model atmosphere analysis of nine central stars of planetary nebulae. This study is based on a new generation of realistic stellar model atmospheres for hot stars; state-of-the-art, hydrodynamically consistent, spherically…
The polarization of X-ray emission is a unique tool used to investigate the magnetic field structure around astrophysical objects. In this paper, we study the linear polarization of X-ray emissions from gamma-ray binary systems based on…
We present significant improvements of our approach in constructing detailed atmospheric models and synthetic spectra for hot luminous stars: 1. A sophisticated and consistent description of line blocking and blanketing. Our solution…
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…
The high luminosities of massive stars drive strong stellar winds, through line scattering of the star's continuum radiation. This paper reviews the dynamics of such line driving, building first upon the standard CAK model for steady winds,…