F. Najarro

Mass loss from hot massive stars

Mass loss is a key process in the evolution of massive stars, and must be understood quantitatively if it is to be successfully included in broader astrophysical applications such as galactic and cosmic evolution and ionization. In this review, we discuss various aspects of radiation driven mass loss, both from the theoretical and the observational side. We focus on developments in the past decade, concentrating on the winds from OB-stars, with some excursions to the winds from Luminous Blue Variables (including super-Eddington, continuum-driven winds), winds from Wolf–Rayet stars, A-supergiants and Central Stars of Planetary Nebulae. After recapitulating the 1-D, stationary standard model of line-driven winds, extensions accounting for rotation and magnetic fields are discussed. Stationary wind models are presented that provide theoretical predictions for the mass-loss rates as a function of spectral type, metallicity, and the proximity to the Eddington limit. The relevance of the so-called bi-stability jump is outlined. We summarize diagnostical methods to infer wind properties from observations, and compare the results from corresponding campaigns (including the VLT-flames survey of massive stars) with theoretical predictions, featuring the mass loss-metallicity dependence. Subsequently, we concentrate on two urgent problems, weak winds and wind-clumping, that have been identified from various diagnostics and that challenge our present understanding of radiation driven winds. We discuss the problems of “measuring” mass-loss rates from weak winds and the potential of the NIR Brα-line as a tool to enable a more precise quantification, and comment on physical explanations for mass-loss rates that are much lower than predicted by the standard model. Wind-clumping, conventionally interpreted as the consequence of a strong instability inherent to radiative line-driving, has severe implications for the interpretation of observational diagnostics, since derived mass-loss rates are usually overestimated when clumping is present but ignored in the analyses. Depending on the specific diagnostics, such overestimates can amount to factors of 2 to 10, and we describe ongoing attempts to allow for more uniform results. We point out that independent arguments from stellar evolution favor a moderate reduction of present-day mass-loss rates. We also consider larger scale wind structure, interpreted in terms of co-rotating interacting regions, and complete this review with a discussion of recent progress on the X-ray line emission from massive stars. Such emission is thought to originate both from magnetically confined winds and from non-magnetic winds, in the latter case related to the line-driven instability and/or clump-clump collisions. We highlight as to how far the analysis of such X-ray line emission can give further clues regarding an adequate description of wind clumping.

The empirical metallicity dependence of the mass-loss rate of O- and early B-type stars

We present a comprehensive study of the observational dependence of the mass-loss rate in stationary stellar winds of hot massive stars on the metal content of their atmospheres. The metal content of stars in the Magellanic Clouds is discussed, and a critical assessment is given of state-of-the-art mass-loss determinations of OB stars in these two satellite systems and the Milky-Way. Assuming a powerlaw dependence of mass loss on metal content, u M ∝ Z m , and adopting a theoretical relation between the terminal flow velocity and metal content, v∞ ∝ Z 0.13 (Leitherer et al. 1992, ApJ, 401, 596), we find m = 0.83 ± 0.16 for non-clumped outflows from an analysis of the wind momentum luminosity relation (WLR) for stars more luminous than 10 5.2 L� . Within the errors, this result is in agreement with the prediction m = 0.69 ± 0.10 by Vink et al. (2001, A&A, 369, 574). Absolute empirical values for the mass loss, based on Hα and ultraviolet (UV) wind lines, are found to be a factor of two higher than predictions in this high luminosity regime. If this difference is attributed to inhomogeneities in the wind, and this clumping does not impact the predictions, this would imply that luminous O and early-B stars have clumping factors in their Hα and UV line forming regions of about a factor of four. For lower luminosity stars, the winds are so weak that their strengths can generally no longer be derived from optical spectral lines (essentially Hα) and one must currently rely on the analysis of UV lines. We confirm that in this low-luminosity domain the observed Galactic WLR is found to be much steeper than expected from theory (although the specific sample is rather small), leading to a discrepancy between UV mass-loss rates and the predictions by a factor 100 at luminosities of L ∼ 10 4.75 L� , the origin of which is unknown. We emphasize that even if the current mass-loss rates of hot luminous stars would turn out to be overestimated as a result of wind clumping, but the degree of clumping would be rather independent of metallicity, the scalings derived in this study are expected to remain correct.

The Pistol Star

Results of an spectroscopic investigation of the Pistol star are presented. The near-infrared spectra and photometry data are fit with stellar wind models to find that the star is extraordinarily luminous, L = 106.7±0.5 L⊙, making it one of the most luminous stars known. Coupled with the relatively cool temperature, Teff = 10\(^{4.17_{ - 0.06}^{ + 0.19} } \) K, the star is clearly in violation of the Humphreys-Davidson limit. The derived line of sight velocity of the star assures its membership in the Quintuplet cluster. This, along with the inferred extinction, places the star at the Galactic Center.

Fundamental parameters of Galactic luminous OB stars VI. Temperatures, masses and WLR of Cyg OB2 supergiants

We have analyzed six OB supergiants and one giant covering spectral types from O3 to B1 in the Galactic OB as- sociation Cyg OB2 by means of an updated version of FASTWIND (Santolaya-Rey et al. 1997) that includes an approximate treatment of metal line blocking and blanketing. This large coverage in spectral type allows us to derive a new temperature scale for Galactic O supergiants that is lower than the one obtained by using pure H-He models, either plane-parallel and hydrostatic or spherical with mass-loss. The lower temperatures are thus a combined eect of line blanketing and the large mass-loss rates. In some cases, the newly derived eective temperature is reduced by up to 8000 K. Changes are larger for earlier stars with large mass-loss rates. As a consequence, luminosities are modified as well, which results in a lower number of emerging ionizing photons and reduces the mass discrepancy. Although there are still significant dierences between spectroscopic and evolutionary masses, we do not find any obvious systematic pattern of those dierences. We derive mass-loss rates and the corresponding wind momentum-luminosity relation for the analyzed stars. Although consistent with previous results by Puls et al. (1996) for Galactic stars, our relation is better defined due to a reduction of errors related to stellar distances and points to a possible separation between extreme Of stars (Of + ,O f) and stars with more moderate morphologies. However this finding is

The VLT-FLAMES Survey of Massive Stars: Observations in the Galactic Clusters NGC 3293, NGC 4755 and NGC 6611 ⋆

We introduce a new survey of massive stars in the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds using the Fibre Large Array Multi-Element Spectrograph (FLAMES) instrument at the Very Large Telescope (VLT). Here we present observations of 269 Galactic stars with the FLAMES-Giraffe Spectrograph (R � 25 000), in fields centered on the open clusters NGC 3293, NGC 4755 and NGC 6611. These data are supplemented by a further 50 targets observed with the Fibre-Fed Extended Range Optical Spectrograph (FEROS, R = 48 000). Following a description of our scientific motivations and target selection criteria, the data reduction methods are described; of critical importance the FLAMES reduction pipeline is found to yield spectra that are in excellent agreement with less automated methods. Spectral classifications and radial velocity measurements are presented for each star, with particular attention paid to morphological peculiarities and evidence of binarity. These observations represent a significant increase in the known spectral content of NGC 3293 and NGC 4755, and will serve as standards against which our subsequent FLAMES observations in the Magellanic Clouds will be compared.

A K-Band Spectral Atlas of Wolf-Rayet Stars

We present K-band spectra (R ~ 525) of 38 northern Galactic WR Stars, of which 16 are WC, 19 are WN, two are WN/WC, and one is WO. The spectra have the expected trend of stronger lines for higher ionization species with earlier spectral subtype. Spectra for the late WC stars can appear to have weak emission lines, an effect due to different amounts of dust dilution in the individual stars. There are also differences in spectral morphology for stars within other subtypes. In general, the spectra for all WC stars earlier than WC9 tend to be quite similar, while the spectra for WN subtypes are more easily differentiated. Several previously unidentified emission lines are seen in the spectra, most notably, features near 2.247 and 2.368 μm in late-type WN stars, and one near 2.222 μm in late-type WC stars. We attribute the 2.247 μm line to a N III transition and argue that it might provide the best method for discriminating between WNL and OIf+ stars in the K band. We investigate the behavior of the 2.11 μm (He I + N III), 2.166 μm (H I + He I + He II), and 2.189 μm (He II) emission lines in WN types and find that these lines provide for accurate discrimination within the sample to within 1 subtype. From this investigation, it appears that the ratio of W2.189 μm/W2.11 μm is sensitive to subtype and shows the least dispersion within subtypes. In addition, we find that the W2.189 μm/W2.166 μm ratio also scales with subtype in a well-behaved manner once it is corrected for contamination of the 2.166 μm line by He II 14-8 and for the presence of an O star companion in binary systems. We also investigate the behavior of the 2.058 μm (He I), 2.08 μm (C IV), and the 2.11 μm (C III + He I) emission lines in WC types. The ratio of W2.08 μm/W2.11 μm correlates with subtype; however, it is not easy to distinguish between individual subtypes earlier than WC8 by just using this quantity. The dominance of the 2.058 μm line in WC9 types distinguishes this subtype from all other WC subtypes. Two WC9 stars in our sample have nearly featureless spectra due to dust dilution. It is possible to classify a WR star to within one subtype in the WN sequence based upon the sample in this atlas. The similarity of WC spectra makes it difficult to distinguish among individual subtypes earlier than WC8.

The VLT-FLAMES survey of massive stars: wind properties and evolution of hot massive stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud

We have studied the optical spectra of a sample of 28 O- and early B-type stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, 22 of which are associated with the young star forming region N11. Our observations sample the central associations of LH9 and LH10, and the surrounding regions. Stellar parameters are determined using an automated fitting method (Mokiem et al. 2005), which combines the stellar atmosphere code fastwind (Puls et al. 2005) with the genetic algorithm based optimisation routine pikaia (Charbonneau 1995). We derive an age of 7.0 ± 1.0 and 3.0 ± 1.0 Myr for LH9 and LH10, respectively. The age difference and relative distance of the associations are consistent with a sequential star formation scenario in which stellar activity in LH9 triggered the formation of LH10. Our sample contains four stars of spectral type O2. From helium and hydrogen line fitting we find the hottest three of these stars to be 49{-}54 kK (compared to 45{-}46 kK for O3 stars). Detailed determination of the helium mass fraction reveals that the masses of helium enriched dwarfs and giants derived in our spectroscopic analysis are systematically lower than those implied by non-rotating evolutionary tracks. We interpret this as evidence for efficient rotationally enhanced mixing leading to the surfacing of primary helium and to an increase of the stellar luminosity. This result is consistent with findings for SMC stars by Mokiem et al. (2006). For bright giants and supergiants no such mass discrepancy is found; these stars therefore appear to follow tracks of modestly or non-rotating objects. The set of programme stars was sufficiently large to establish the mass loss rates of OB stars in this Z Eœ 1/2 Zo environment sufficiently accurate to allow for a quantitative comparison with similar objects in the Galaxy and the SMC. The mass loss properties are found to be intermediate to massive stars in the Galaxy and SMC. Comparing the derived modified wind momenta D_mom as a function of luminosity with predictions for LMC metallicities by Vink et al. (2001) yields good agreement in the entire luminosity range that was investigated, i.e. 5.0 < log L/Lo< 6.1. Appendix A is only available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org

The VLT-FLAMES survey of massive stars: mass loss and rotation of early-type stars in the SMC

We have studied the optical spectra of a sample of 31 O- and early B-type stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud, 21 of which are associated with the young massive cluster NGC 346. Stellar parameters are determined using an automated fitting method (Mokiem et al. 2005, A&A, 441, 711), which combines the stellar atmosphere code fastwind (Puls et al. 2005, A&A, 435, 669) with the genetic algorithm based optimisation routine pikaia (Charbonneau 1995, ApJS, 101, 309). Comparison with predictions of stellar evolution that account for stellar rotation does not result in a unique age, though most stars are best represented by an age of 1–3 Myr. The automated method allows for a detailed determination of the projected rotational velocities. The present day vr sini distribution of the 21 dwarf stars in our sample is consistent with an underlying rotational velocity (vr) distribution that can be characterised by a mean velocity of about 160−190 km s −1 and an effective half width of 100−150 km s −1 .T hevr distribution must include a small percentage of slowly rotating stars. If predictions of the time evolution of the equatorial velocity for massive stars within the environment of the SMC are correct (Maeder & Meynet 2001, A&A, 373, 555), the young age of the cluster implies that this underlying distribution is representative for the initial rotational velocity distribution. The location in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram of the stars showing helium enrichment is in qualitative agreement with evolutionary tracks accounting for rotation, but not for those ignoring vr .T he mass loss rates of the SMC objects having luminosities of logL� /L� 5.4 are in excellent agreement with predictions by Vink et al. (2001, A&A, 369, 574). However, for lower luminosity stars the winds are too weak to determine u M accurately from the optical spectrum. Three targets were classifiedas Vz stars, two of which are located close to the theoretical zero-age main sequence. Three lower luminosity targets that were not classified as Vz stars are also found to lie near the ZAMS. We argue that this is related to a temperature effect inhibiting cooler from displaying the spectral features required for the Vz luminosity class.

Detailed spectroscopic analysis of the Trapezium cluster stars inside the Orion nebula - Rotational velocities, stellar parameters, and oxygen abundances

We present the results of a spectroscopic analysis of the Trapezium cluster stars inside the Orion Nebula. The rotational velocities have been obtained using Fourier analysis method, finding agreement with values derived from the usual method, based on linewidth measurements. The rotational velocity derived for theta 1 Ori C through this method is consistent with the variability of some of its spectral features that have a period of 15.42 days. By means of the fit of H, HeI and HeII observed profiles with FASTWIND synthetic profiles, stellar parameters and wind characteristics have been derived. This methodology let us estimate the errors associated with these parameters. It is found that macroturbulence effects have to be included for a good fit to the HeI-II lines in the spectrum of theta 1 Ori C. By means of a very accurate study, oxygen abundances have been derived for the three B0.5V stars theta 1 Ori A, D and theta 2 Ori B. Final abundances are consistent with the nebular gas-phase results presented in Esteban et al. (2004) and are lower than those given by Cunha and Lambert (1994). Our results suggest a lower dust depletion factor of oxygen than previous estimations for the Orion nebula.

The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey - XII. Rotational velocities of the single O-type stars

Context. The 30 Doradus (30 Dor) region of the Large Magellanic Cloud, also known as the Tarantula nebula, is the nearest starburst region. It contains the richest population of massive stars in the Local Group, and it is thus the best possible laboratory to investigate open questions on the formation and evolution of massive stars. Aims. Using ground-based multi-object optical spectroscopy obtained in the framework of the VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey (VFTS), we aim to establish the (projected) rotational velocity distribution for a sample of 216 presumably single O-type stars in 30 Dor. The sample is large enough to obtain statistically significant information and to search for variations among subpopulations – in terms of spectral type, luminosity class, and spatial location – in the field of view. Methods. We measured projected rotational velocities, ν_esini, by means of a Fourier transform method and a profile fitting method applied to a set of isolated spectral lines. We also used an iterative deconvolution procedure to infer the probability density, P(ν_e), of the equatorial rotational velocity, ν_e. Results. The distribution of νesini shows a two-component structure: a peak around 80 kms^(-1) and a high-velocity tail extending up to ~600 kms^(-1). This structure is also present in the inferred distribution P(ν_e) with around 80% of the sample having 0 < ν_e ≤ 300 kms^(-1) and the other 20% distributed in the high-velocity region. The presence of the low-velocity peak is consistent with what has been found in other studies for late O- and early B-type stars. Conclusions. Most of the stars in our sample rotate with a rate less than 20% of their break-up velocity. For the bulk of the sample, mass loss in a stellar wind and/or envelope expansion is not efficient enough to significantly spin down these stars within the first few Myr of evolution. If massive-star formation results in stars rotating at birth with a large portion of their break-up velocities, an alternative braking mechanism, possibly magnetic fields, is thus required to explain the present-day rotational properties of the O-type stars in 30 Dor. The presence of a sizeable population of fast rotators is compatible with recent population synthesis computations that investigate the influence of binary evolution on the rotation rate of massive stars. Even though we have excluded stars that show significant radial velocity variations, our sample may have remained contaminated by post-interaction binary products. That the high-velocity tail may be populated primarily (and perhaps exclusively) by post-binary interaction products has important implications for the evolutionary origin of systems that produce gamma-ray bursts.