Massive stars burning helium - The numbers of WR stars and red supergiants in galaxies
Abstract
Three sets of models with different mass loss rates are computed in a study of massive star evolutionary models in the 15-120-solar mass range. The adopted mass loss rate parameterization is fitted on observations, yielding mass loss rate expressions which differ according to star location in the HR diagram. Emphasis is put on the location of the He-burning stars on the diagram, and attention is given to the observational results of Maeder, Lequeux and Azzopardi (1980). It is found that binarity cannot be the leading factor in the formation of WR stars, since there are no WR stars of luminosity lower than 100,000 solar luminosities, which is where contact binaries are believed to exist.
- Publication:
-
IAU Colloq. 59: Effects of Mass Loss on Stellar Evolution
- Pub Date:
- 1981
- DOI:
- 10.1007/978-94-009-8500-1_40
- Bibcode:
- 1981ASSL...89..283M
- Keywords:
-
- Nuclear Fusion;
- Red Giant Stars;
- Stellar Evolution;
- Stellar Mass Ejection;
- Stellar Models;
- Wolf-Rayet Stars;
- Helium;
- Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram;
- Supergiant Stars;
- Astrophysics