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The dynamics of Wolf-Rayet winds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2017

Stanley P. Owocki
Affiliation:
Bartol Research Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, U.S.A.
Kenneth G. Gayley
Affiliation:
Bartol Research Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, U.S.A.

Abstract

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We review the dynamics of Wolf-Rayet stellar winds, with emphasis on how multi-line scattering can lead to mass loss rates for which the wind's radial momentum flux Ṁv ∞ greatly exceeds the limit for single-scattering of the star's radiative momentum L */c. The geometrical considerations that allow this to occur are illuminated through connections to multiple scattering in an effectively gray medium. The so-called “WR wind momentum problem” would be better characterized as an “opacity problem” of simply identifying a sufficiently dense ensemble of optically thick lines.

Information

Type
Session II - Model atmospheres for single Wolf-Rayet stars
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1995