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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 February 2017
A physical mechanism that can result in the generation of extended expanding atmospheres is discussed. The process involves the unloading of stellar material following the arrival of a shock wave at the edge of the star. The basic principles are developed from a discussion of a simplified case that has been studied in the laboratory; they are then applied to the atmosphere of a star. A radiation-hydrodynamics computation of a model cepheid is then used to obtain quantitative atmospheric profiles. The computed continuum and spectral lines during the unloading process are then examined. A discussion of the possibility that the unloading process occurs in stars other than cepheids suggests the existence of a shock visibility factor associated with ionization or dissociation in the region behind the shock front and leads to a possible alternate interpretation of the variable star instability strips in the H-R diagram.
Now at Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory, 3251 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, California 93404.
This work was made possible by a grant of computer time made available by the Berkeley Astronomy Department and by a Lockheed Independent Research Grant.