WNL Stars - the Most Massive Stars in the Universe?

Details WNL Stars - the Most Massive Stars in the Universe? WNL Stars - the Most Massive Stars in the Universe?

Aug 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001noao.prop..310s&link_type=abstract

NOAO Proposal ID #2001B-0310

Computer Science

Scientific paper

We propose to carry out an intensive and complete time-dependent spectroscopic study of all 47 known WNL stars in the LMC, an ideal laboratory to study the effect of lower ambient metallicity, Z, on stellar evolution. WNL stars are luminous, cooler WR stars of the nitrogen sequence. This will allow us to: 1) determine the binary frequency. The Roche-lobe overflow (RLOF) mechanism in close binaries is predicted to be responsible for the formation of a significant fraction of WR stars in low Z environments such as the LMC. 2) determine the masses. Since some of these stars (denoted WNL(h) or WNLh) are supposed to be hydrogen-burning and thus main-sequence stellar objects of the highest luminosity, they may be the most massive stars known. 3) study wind-wind collision (WWC) effects in WR+O binaries involving very luminous WNL stars with strong winds. Interesting in itself as a high-energy phenomenon, WWC is in competition with conservative RLOF (i.e. mass transfer to the secondary star), and therefore has to be taken into account in this context.

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