This book presents the status of research on very massive stars in the Universe. While it has been claimed that stars with over 100 solar masses existed in the very early Universe, recent studies have also discussed the existence and deaths of stars up to 300 solar masses in the local Universe. This represents a paradigm shift for the stellar upper-mass limit, which may have major implications far beyond the field of stellar physics.
The book comprises 7 chapters, which describe this discipline and provide sufficient background and introductory content for graduate (PhD) students and researchers from different branches of astronomy to be able to enter this exciting new field of very massive stars.
Author(s): Jorick S. Vink (eds.)
Series: Astrophysics and Space Science Library 412
Edition: 1
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Year: 2015
Language: English
Pages: 268
Tags: Astrophysics and Astroparticles; Astronomy, Observations and Techniques
Front Matter....Pages i-xi
Very Massive Stars in the Local Universe....Pages 1-8
Empirical Properties of Very Massive Stars....Pages 9-42
The Formation of Very Massive Stars....Pages 43-75
Mass-Loss Rates of Very Massive Stars....Pages 77-111
Instabilities in the Envelopes and Winds of Very Massive Stars....Pages 113-156
Evolution and Nucleosynthesis of Very Massive Stars....Pages 157-198
The Deaths of Very Massive Stars....Pages 199-225
Observed Consequences of Preupernova Instability in Very Massive Stars....Pages 227-266
Back Matter....Pages 267-268
