Eta Carinae and the Luminous Blue Variables

Abstract

We evaluate the place of Eta Carinae amongst the class of luminous blue variables (LBVs) and show that the LBV phenomenon is not restricted to extremely luminous objects like Eta Car, but extends luminosities as low as log(L/Lsun) = 5.4 - corresponding to initial masses ~25 Msun, and final masses as low as ~10-15 Msun. We present a census of S Doradus variability, and discuss basic LBV properties, their mass-loss behaviour, and whether at maximum light they form pseudo-photospheres. We argue that those objects that exhibit giant Eta Car-type eruptions are most likely related to the more common type of S Doradus variability. Alternative atmospheric models as well as sub-photospheric models for the instability are presented, but the true nature of the LBV phenomenon remains as yet elusive. We end with a discussion on the evolutionary status of LBVs - highlighting recent indications that some LBVs may be in a direct pre-supernova state, in contradiction to the standard paradigm for massive star evolution.

27 pages, 6 figures, Review Chapter in "Eta Carinae and the supernova imposters" (eds R. Humphreys and K. Davidson) new version submitted to Springer

References in corpus (30)

• Pulsational pair instability as an explanation for the most luminous supernovae
• A giant outburst two years before the core-collapse of a massive star
• SN 2006jc: A Wolf-Rayet Star Exploding in a Dense He-Rich Circumstellar Medium
• Sub-surface convection zones in hot massive stars and their observable consequences
• Stellar envelope inflation near the Eddington limit. Implications for the radii of Wolf-Rayet stars and luminous blue variables
• Luminous Blue Variables as the progenitors of supernovae with quasi-periodic radio modulations
• The 2008 Luminous Optical Transient in the Nearby Galaxy NGC 300
• An Intermediate Luminosity Transient in NGC300: The Eruption of a Dust-Enshrouded Massive Star
• SN 2008S: A Cool Super-Eddington Wind in a Supernova Impostor
• SN 2005 gj: Evidence for LBV supernovae progenitors?
• On the evolution and fate of supermassive stars
• Discovery of a nearby twin of SN1987A's nebula around the luminous blue variable HD168625: Was Sk--69 202 an LBV?
• A consistent solution for the velocity field and mass-loss rate of massive stars
• Bona-fide, strong-variable galactic Luminous Blue Variable stars are fast rotators: detection of a high rotational velocity in HR Carinae
• Bolometric luminosity variations in the Luminous Blue Variable AFGL2298
• On Luminous Blue Variables as the Progenitors of Core-Collapse Supernovae, especially Type IIn Supernovae
• The Photometric and Spectral Evolution of the 2008 Luminous Optical Transient in NGC 300
• On the presence and absence of disks around O-type stars
• The nature of V39: an LBV candidate or LBV impostor in the very low metallicity galaxy IC 1613?
• Testing the predicted mass-loss bi-stability jump at radio wavelengths
• Integral-Field Spectroscopy of the Post Red Supergiant IRC +10420: evidence for an axi-symmetric wind
• Discovery of a massive variable star with Z=Zo/36 in the galaxy DDO 68
• An Indication for the Binarity of P Cygni from Its Seventeenth Century Eruption
• Discovery of a Luminous Blue Variable with an Ejection Nebula Near the Quintuplet Cluster
• Constraining GRB progenitor models by probing Wolf-Rayet wind geometries in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• The bi-stability jump as the origin for multiple P-Cygni absorption components in Luminous Blue Variables
• Spectropolarimetry of the Massive Post-Red Supergiants IRC +10420 and HD 179821
• A new Luminous Variable in M33
• Modelling the optical spectrum of Romano's star
• Resolving the ionized wind of the post-Red Supergiant IRC +10 420 with VLTI/AMBER

Cited by in corpus (33)

• Dead or Alive? Long-term evolution of SN 2015bh (SNhunt275)
• On the Social Traits of Luminous Blue Variables
• Two bi-stability jumps in theoretical wind models for massive stars and the implications for Luminous Blue Variable supernovae
• The long-lived Type IIn SN 2015da: Infrared echoes and strong interaction within an extended massive shell
• Luminous and Variable Stars in M31 and M33. III. The Yellow and Red Supergiants and Post-Red Supergiant Evolution
• Fast & slow winds from supergiants and Luminous Blue Variables
• The possible detection of a binary companion to a Type Ibn supernova progenitor
• Wolf-Rayet spin at low metallicity and its implication for Black Hole formation channels
• An environmental analysis of the Type Ib SN 2019yvr and the possible presence of an inflated binary companion
• The changing-type SN 2014C may come from an 11-$M_{\odot }$ star stripped by binary interaction and violent eruption
• New Luminous Blue Variables in the Andromeda galaxy
• Observational properties of massive black hole binary progenitors
• On the nature of high reddening of Cygnus OB2 #12 hypergiant
• How common is LBV S Dor variability at low metallicity?
• Mass-loss rates of Very Massive Stars
• Core-collapse supernovae in dense environments -- particle acceleration and non-thermal emission
• Candidate LBV stars in galaxy NGC 7793 found via HST photometry + MUSE spectroscopy
• Pulsations as a Driver for LBV Variability
• A Tale of Two Impostors: SN2002kg and SN1954J in NGC 2403
• Finding $\eta$ Car Analogs in Nearby Galaxies Using Spitzer: II. Identification of An Emerging Class of Extragalactic Self-Obscured Stars
• Fast Ejecta Resulted from Jet-Wind Interaction in the Great Eruption of Eta Carinae
• Detection of new eruptions in the Magellanic Clouds LBVs R 40 and R 110
• New luminous blue variable candidates in the NGC 247 galaxy
• HSC16aayt: Slowly evolving interacting transient rising for more than 100 days
• Wind and nebula of the M33 variable GR290 (WR/LBV)
• Decade-long time-monitoring of candidate Luminous Blue Variable Stars in the two very metal-deficient compact dwarf galaxies DDO 68 and PHL 293B
• Discovering new B[e] supergiants and candidate Luminous Blue Variables in nearby galaxies
• Spitzer observations of a circumstellar nebula around the candidate Luminous Blue Variable MWC 930
• Search for LBVs in the Local Volume galaxies: study of four stars in NGC 4449
• How long can LBVs sleep? A long-term photometric vaiability and spectral study of the Galactic candidate luminous blue variable MN112
• Asymmetrical nebula of the M33 variable GR290 (WR/LBV)
• Wray 15-906: a candidate luminous blue variable discovered with WISE, Herschel and SALT
• Pulsation and Mass Loss Across the HR Diagram: From OB stars to Cepheids to Red Supergiants