Mass loss from Luminous Blue Variables and Quasi-Periodic Modulations of Radio Supernovae

Details Mass loss from Luminous Blue Variables and Quasi-Periodic Modulations of Radio Supernovae Mass loss from Luminous Blue Variables and Quasi-Periodic Modulations of Radio Supernovae

2007-04-20

arxiv.org/abs/0704.2689v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

6 pages, 5 figs, To appear in: "Circumstellar Media and Late Stages of Massive Stellar Evolution"

Scientific paper

Massive stars, supernovae (SNe), and long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have a huge impact on their environment. Despite their importance, a comprehensive knowledge of which massive stars produce which SN/GRB is hitherto lacking. We present a brief overview about our knowledge of mass loss in the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram (HRD) covering evolutionary phases of the OB main sequence, the unstable Luminous Blue Variable (LBV) stage, and the Wolf-Rayet (WR) phase. Despite the fact that metals produced by ``self-enrichment'' in WR atmospheres exceed the initial -- host galaxy -- metallicity, by orders of magnitude, a particularly strong dependence of the mass-loss rate on the initial metallicity is found for WR stars at sub-solar metallicities (1/10 -- 1/100 solar). This provides a significant boost to the collapsar model for GRBs, as it may present a viable mechanism to prevent the loss of angular momentum by stellar winds at low metallicity, whilst strong Galactic WR winds may inhibit GRBs occurring at solar metallicities. Furthermore, we discuss recently reported quasi-sinusoidal modulations in the radio lightcurves of SNe 2001ig and 2003bg. We show that both the sinusoidal behaviour and the recurrence timescale of these modulations are consistent with the predicted mass-loss behaviour of LBVs, and we suggest LBVs may be the progenitors of some core-collapse SNe.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Mass loss from Luminous Blue Variables and Quasi-Periodic Modulations of Radio Supernovae does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Mass loss from Luminous Blue Variables and Quasi-Periodic Modulations of Radio Supernovae, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Mass loss from Luminous Blue Variables and Quasi-Periodic Modulations of Radio Supernovae will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-573610