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Massive stars burning helium: the numbers of WR stars and red supergiants in galaxies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

A. Maeder*
Affiliation:
Geneva Observatory, CH-1290 Sauverny

Extract

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We have calculated evolutionary models of massive stars in the range 15-120 Mʘ from the zero-age sequence up to the end of the carbon burning stage (Maeder, 1981). Three sets of models with different mass loss rates Ṁ have been computed; the adopted parametrisation of Ṁ is fitted on the observations and thus the expression for Ṁ differs according to the location of the stars in the HRD.

In this short note we concentrate on the location of the He-burning stars in the HRD. The helium burning phase, which lasts 8 to 10% of the MS phase, is spent mainly as red supergiants (RSG) and as WR stars (note that for low mass loss, the time spent as A-G supergiants becomes longer).

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

References

Humphreys, R.M. 1978, Astrophys. J. Suppl. 38, p. 309.Google Scholar
Maeder, A., Lequeux, J., Azzopardi, M. 1980, Astron.Astrophys. in press.Google Scholar
Smith, L. 1973, in IAU Symposium 49,Ed. Reidel, p. 15.Google Scholar
van der Hucht, K., Conti, P., Lundström, I., Stenholm, B. 1981, Sp. Science Rev. in press.Google Scholar