Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2015
Recent improvements to theoretical stellar wind models and the results of empirical modelling of the ionization balance and the infrared continuum are discussed. The model of a wind driven by radiation pressure in spectral lines is improved by accounting for overlap of the driving lines, dependence of ionization balance on density, and stellar rotation. These effects produce a softer velocity law than that given by Castor, Abbott and Klein (1975). The ionization balance in ζ Puppis is shown to agree with that estimated for an optically thick wind at a gas temperature of 60,000 K. The ionization model is not unique. The infrared continuum of ζ Pup measured by Barlow and Cohen is fitted to a cool model with a linear rise of velocity with radius; this fit is also not unique. It is concluded we should try to find a model that fits several kinds of evidence simultaneously.