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The hydrogen/helium ratio on the surface of Wolf-Rayet stars

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Peter S. Conti
Affiliation:
Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, University of Colorado, and National Bureau of Standards Boulder, Colorado 80309
Philip Massey
Affiliation:
Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, University of Colorado, and National Bureau of Standards Boulder, Colorado 80309

Extract

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As yet there have been few detailed analyses of Wolf-Rayet (WR) emission line spectra. Such analyses must certainly take account of line transfer in a spherically extended, expanding medium, a problem not yet completely addressed in the complexity of WR envelopes. However, visual examination of optical spectra suggests real differences in line strengths among the Balmer and Pickering series lines in WN stars. If hydrogen is present, the Balmer lines will be stronger than the adjacent Pickering lines of ionized helium; if hydrogen is weak or absent, then there will be a smooth transition in intensities along the Pickering series with no additional contribution from the Balmer lines at alternatively blending wavelengths (Underhill 1967).

Type
Session V - Mass Loss and Stellar Evolution: Massive Stars
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1981

References

Conti, P.S.: 1976, Mem. Soc. R. Sci. Liege, Ser 6, 9, p. 193.Google Scholar
Smith, L.F.: 1973, in “Wolf-Rayet and High Temperature Stars,IAU Symp. No. 49, eds. Bappu, V. K. and Sahade, J. (Dordrecht: Reidel).Google Scholar
Underhill, A.B.: 1967, Bull. Astron. Instit. Neth. 19, 173.Google Scholar
Underhill, A.B.: 1973, in “Wolf-Rayet and High Temperature Stars,IAU Symp. No. 49, eds. Bappu, V. K. and Sahade, J.(Dordrecht: Reidel).Google Scholar