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Mass loss rates for twenty one Wolf-Rayet stars

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

M.J. Barlow ,
L.J. Smith  and
A.J. Willis
M.J. Barlow
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT
L.J. Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT
A.J. Willis
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT

Abstract

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Mass loss rates have been derived for twenty one WR stars encompassing most subtypes in the WN and WC sequences, from measurements of their infrared free-free fluxes. The resultant mass loss rates show a range of only a factor of four. WC stars generally have larger mass loss rates than WN stars, the mean rates being Ṁ(WC) = 4.1x10-5 M⊙y-1 and Ṁ(WN) = 2.7x10-5 M⊙y-1. Optical and ultraviolet data have been used to estimate bolometric luminosities for a range of WR spectral types, and it is shown that the derived mass loss rates are too large to be powered by radiation pressure. The total kinetic energy ejected into the interstellar medium through mass loss during the WR phase of a massive star is estimated to be 7x1050 ergs, comparable to that of a supernova event.

Type
Session I - Winds from Early Type Stars: Observations
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 59: Effects of Mass Loss on Stellar Evolution , 1981 , pp. 65
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1981