Empirical properties of Very Massive Stars

Abstract

In this contribution we present the properties of the most massive stars known by the end of 2013. We start with a summary of historical claims for stars with masses in excess of several hundreds, even thousands of solar masses. We then describe how we determine masses for single stars. We focus on the estimates of luminosities and on the related uncertainties. We also highlight the limitations of evolutionary models used to convert luminosities into masses. The most luminous single stars in the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds are subsequently presented. The uncertainties on their mass determinations are described. Finally, we present binary stars. After recalling some basics of binary analysis, we present the most massive binary systems and the estimates of their dynamical masses.

34 pages, 8 figures - Chapter to appear in the book "Very Massive Stars in the Local Universe", Springer, (Ed. J.S. Vink)

References in corpus (10)

• The R136 star cluster hosts several stars whose individual masses greatly exceed the accepted 150 Msun stellar mass limit
• The Galactic WN stars: Spectral analyses with line-blanketed model atmospheres versus stellar evolution models with and without rotation
• UBVJHK synthetic photometry of Galactic O stars
• The most massive stars in the Arches cluster
• Discovery of an Extraordinarily Massive Cluster of Red Supergiants
• The VLT-FLAMES survey of massive stars: Wind properties and evolution of hot massive stars in the LMC
• The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey III: A very massive star in apparent isolation from the massive cluster R136
• The very massive binary NGC3603-A1
• Two extremely luminous WN stars in the Galactic center with circumstellar emission from dust and gas
• R144 revealed as a double-lined spectroscopic binary

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Possible pair-instability supernovae at solar metallicity from magnetic stellar progenitors
• Very massive stars and Nitrogen emitting galaxies
• The most massive stars in very young star clusters with a limited mass: Evidence favours significant self-regulation in the star formation processes
• Very Massive Stars and Pair-Instability Supernovae: Mass-loss Framework for low Metallicity
• Spectroscopic evolution of very massive stars at Z = 1/2.5 Zsun
• The hydrogen clock to infer the upper stellar mass
• K I 7699 Å and related shell lines during the recent eclipse of $\epsilon$ Aurigae
• The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey
• Evolutionary models for the Very Massive Stars in the R136 cluster of 30 Doradus in the Large Magellanic Cloud