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A NEW PRESCRIPTION FOR THE MASS-LOSS RATES OF WC AND WO STARS
A NEW PRESCRIPTION FOR THE MASS-LOSS RATES OF WC AND WO STARS
- Source :
- The Astrophysical Journal. 833:133
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- American Astronomical Society, 2016.
-
Abstract
- We present a new empirical prescription for the mass-loss rates of carbon and oxygen sequence Wolf-Rayet stars as a function of their luminosity, surface chemical composition, and initial metallicity. The new prescription is based on results of detailed spectral analyses of WC and WO stars, and improves the often applied Nugis & Lamers (2000) relation. We find that the mass-loss rates of WC and WO stars (with $X=0$ and $Y < 0.98$) can be expressed as $\log{\dot{M}} = -9.20 + 0.85\log{(L/L_{\odot})} + 0.44\log{Y} + 0.25\log{(Z_{\mathrm{Fe}}/Z_{\mathrm{Fe}, \odot})}$. This relation is based on mass-loss determinations that assume a volume-filling factor of 0.1, but the prescription can easily be scaled to account for other volume-filling factors. The residual of the fit is $��= 0.06$ dex. We investigated whether the relation can also describe the mass loss of hydrogen-free WN stars and showed that it can when an adjustement of the metallicty dependence ($\log{\dot{M}} \propto 1.3\log{(Z_{\mathrm{Fe}}/Z_{\mathrm{Fe}, \odot})}$) is applied. Compared to Nugis & Lamers (2000), $\dot{M}$ is less sensitive to the luminosity and the surface abundance, implying a stronger mass loss of massive stars in their late stages of evolution. The modest metallicity dependence implies that if WC or WO stars are formed in metal deficient environments, their mass-loss rates are higher than currently anticipated. These effects may result in a larger number of type Ic supernovae and less black holes to be formed, and may favour the production of superluminous type Ic supernovae through interaction with C and O rich circumstellar material or the dense stellar wind.<br />Accepted for publication in ApJ
- Subjects :
- Physics
010308 nuclear & particles physics
Metallicity
FOS: Physical sciences
Sigma
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Type (model theory)
01 natural sciences
Luminosity
Supernova
Stars
Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science
0103 physical sciences
Surface chemical
Production (computer science)
010303 astronomy & astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15384357
- Volume :
- 833
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....1ce09bbd477188663e187cdc3e9529ed
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/833/2/133