Optically-Thick Stellar Winds and Photospheres of Hot Stars

研究人员将继续对恒星进行理论建模， 大气质量损失。 重点在于非常明亮 和大质量恒星，通常超过40个太阳质量。 精确线 需要光谱来获得有效温度。 等 对光谱的详细了解不仅提供了信息， 关于风的成因， 恒星演化，如对流;识别 这些恒星在遥远星系中的光度; 在星际介质上。 可观测到的最热的恒星为我们的 了解恒星的演化，它们激发了 星际介质;他们可能成为准确的指标， 遥远星系的距离 然而，热的观察 恒星只有在详细的模型之后才能可靠地解释， 它们的大气层已经形成。 模型必须包括 关于离开恒星的风的速度的信息 风中的原子吸收并重新发射恒星 辐射 这种计算直到最近才成为可能。 研究人员站在这项研究的最前沿。 这 格兰特将允许他们模拟恒星大气， 最热恒星的光谱确实可以变得有效 天文学研究的工具。

The investigators will continue theoretical modeling of stellar atmospheres with mass loss. The emphasis rests on very luminous and massive stars, typically over 40 solar masses. Accurate line spectra are needed to obtain effective temperatures. Such detailed understanding of the spectra yields information not only about the causes of the winds but also about properties of stellar evolution, such as convection; ways to identify the luminosities of such stars in distant galaxies; and the effects on the interstellar medium. The hottest observable stars provide important tests of our understanding of stellar evolution, they energize the interstellar medium; and they may become accurate indicators of distances of distant galaxies. However, observations of hot stars can be interpreted reliably only after a detailed model of their atmospheres has been constructed. The model must include information on both the velocities of the winds leaving the stars and on the atoms in the winds that absorb and re-emit the stellar radiation. Such a computation has only recently become possible. The investigators are at the forefront of this research. This grant will allow them to model the stellar atmospheres so that the spectra of the hottest stars can indeed become effective tools for astronomical research.