Terminal velocities for a large sample of O stars, B supergiants, and Wolf-Rayet stars

Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 1990 papers

Abstract

It is argued that easily measured, reliable estimates of terminal velocities for early-type stars are provided by the central velocity asymptotically approached by narrow absorption features and by the violet limit of zero residual intensity in saturated P Cygni profiles. These estimators are used to determine terminal velocities, v(infinity), for 181 O stars, 70 early B supergiants, and 35 Wolf-Rayet stars. For OB stars, the values are typically 15-20 percent smaller than the extreme violet edge velocities, v(edge), while for WR stars v(infinity) = 0.76 v(edge) on average. New mass-loss rates for WR stars which are thermal radio emitters are given, taking into account the new terminal velocities and recent revisions to estimates of distances and to the mean nuclear mass per electron. The relationships between v(infinity), the surface escape velocities, and effective temperatures are examined.

Related Papers

• → The terminal velocities of stellar winds from early-type stars(1978)90 cited
• → Improved Mass Loss Rates for WC7-9 Stars: Their Effect on the Wolf-Rayet Stellar Wind Momentum Problem(1987)7 cited
• Stellar Activity on Red Giant and Supergiant Stars: Mass Loss and the Evolution of the Stellar Dynamo.(2018)
• → The population of massive stars in R136 from HST/FOC UV observations(1993)