Related papers: Are WNL stars tracers of high metallicity?

The mass loss from Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars is of fundamental importance for the final fate of massive stars and their chemical yields. Its Z-dependence is discussed in relation to the formation of long-duration Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) and the…

Line-driven stellar winds are ubiquitous among hot massive stars. In some cases they can become so strong, that the whole star is cloaked by an optically thick wind. The strong outflow gives rise to large emission lines, defining the class…

With their emission-line dominated spectra, the appearance of Wolf-Rayet stars is shaped by their strong stellar winds. Yet, the physical mechanisms behind their high mass loss have long remained enigmatic. While we know nowadays that…

We have performed a pilot study of mass loss predictions for late-type Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars as a function of metal abundance, over a range between 10^{-5} < (Z/Zsun) < 10. We find that the winds of nitrogen-rich Wolf-Rayet stars are…

(abridged) The strong winds of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars are important for the mechanical and chemical feedback of the most massive stars and determine whether they end their lives as neutron stars or black holes. In this work we investigate…

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…

We present recent results for galactic WNL stars, obtained with the new Potsdam Wolf-Rayet (PoWR) hydrodynamic model atmospheres. Based on a combination of stellar wind modeling and spectral analysis we identify the galactic WNL subtypes as…

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…

Classical Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars are at a crucial evolutionary stage for constraining the fates of massive stars. The feedback of these hot, hydrogen-depleted stars dominates their surrounding by tremendous injections of ionizing radiation…

Observed properties of Wolf-Rayet stars at high metallicity are reviewed. Wolf-Rayet stars are more common at higher metallicity, as a result of stronger mass-loss during earlier evolutionary phases with late WC subtypes signatures of solar…

Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars are the most advanced stage in the evolution of the most massive stars. The strong feedback provided by these objects and their subsequent supernova (SN) explosions are decisive for a variety of astrophysical topics…

Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars are the evolved descendants of the most massive stars and show emission-line dominated spectra formed in their powerful stellar winds. Marking the final evolution stage before core collapse, the standard picture of WR…

Recent results for Galactic and Magellanic Cloud Wolf-Rayet stars are summarised based on line blanketed, clumped model atmospheres together with UV, optical and IR spectroscopy. The trend towards earlier WN and WC spectral types with…

The Wolf-Rayet (WR) phenomenon is widespread in astronomy. It involves classical WRs, very massive stars (VMS), WR central stars of planetary nebula CSPN [WRs], and supernovae (SNe). But what is the root cause for a certain type of object…

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…

With the advance of stellar atmosphere modelling during the last few years, large progress in the understanding of Wolf-Rayet (WR) mass loss has been achieved. In the present paper we review the most recent developments, including our own…

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…

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…

A review of observational evidence in favour of a metallicity dependence of WN and WC stars is presented. New near-IR studies of Milky Way, LMC and SMC early-type WN stars are presented, with weake winds amongst WN stars containing…

Wolf-Rayet star's winds can be so dense and so optically thick that the photosphere appears in the highly supersonic part of the outflow, veiling the underlying subsonic part of the star, and leaving the initial acceleration of the wind…