From Luminous Hot Stars to Starburst Galaxies

by Peter S. Conti , Paul A. Crowther , Claus Leitherer

• ISBN13: 9780521791342
• ISBN10: 0521791340
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-11-10
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Luminous hot stars represent the extreme upper mass end of normal stellar evolution. Before exploding as supernovae, they live out their lives of only a few million years with prodigious outputs of radiation and stellar winds, which dramatically affect both their evolution and environments.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Motivation	p. 1
Observed properties	p. 1
Stellar atmospheres	p. 5
Stellar winds	p. 5
Evolution of single stars	p. 7
Binaries	p. 9
Birth of massive stars and star clusters	p. 10
The interstellar environment	p. 11
From GHII regions to starburst galaxies	p. 12
Starburst phenomena	p. 14
Cosmological implications	p. 15
Observed properties	p. 17
Apparent and absolute magnitudes	p. 17
Distances	p. 19
Massive stars in Local Group galaxies	p. 21
Spectral classification	p. 35
Observations of rotation and magnetic fields	p. 45
Stellar atmospheres	p. 49
LTE atmospheres	p. 49
Non-LTE atmospheres	p. 50
Surface gravities and masses	p. 61
Surface composition	p. 62
Stellar winds	p. 67
Radiation pressure	p. 67
Wind velocities	p. 74
Mass-loss rates	p. 79
Structure and clumping	p. 90
Influence of stellar rotation	p. 95
Evolution of single stars	p. 99
Nucleosynthesis	p. 99
Evolution to a red supergiant	p. 102
Evolution to the Wolf-Rayet stage	p. 107
Rotation and mass-loss	p. 111
Magnetic massive stars	p. 115
Core-collapse supernovae	p. 116
Binaries	p. 129
Massive binary frequency	p. 129
Binary masses	p. 130
Close binary evolution	p. 133
Interacting stellar winds	p. 146
Dust formation in WC stars	p. 149
Birth of massive stars and star clusters	p. 154
Natal precursors of OB stars	p. 155
The initial mass function	p. 163
Formation of high-mass stars	p. 167
Massive stellar clusters	p. 170
The interstellar environment	p. 180
Interstellar dust	p. 180
Ionized hydrogen regions	p. 184
Wind blown bubbles	p. 187
Ejecta nebulae around LBVs and W-R stars	p. 192
From giant HII regions to HII galaxies	p. 197
Giant HII regions: definition and structural parameters	p. 197
30 Doradus - the Rosetta Stone	p. 200
Stellar population diagnostics	p. 208
HII galaxies: stellar content and relation to starbursts	p. 219
Starburst phenomena	p. 229
Definition of a starburst	p. 229
The starburst IMF	p. 231
The evolution of starbursts	p. 241
Starburst-driven superwinds	p. 250
The starburst-AGN connection	p. 255
Cosmological implications	p. 266
Population III stars	p. 266
Lyman-break galaxies	p. 272
Massive stars and cosmic abundances	p. 280
Gamma ray bursts	p. 287
References	p. 294
Acronyms	p. 306
Symbols	p. 308
Object index	p. 311
Subject index	p. 314
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