A modern guide to quantitative spectroscopy of massive OB stars

Abstract

Quantitative spectroscopy is a powerful technique from which we can extract information about the physical properties and surface chemical composition of stars. In this chapter, I guide the reader through the main ideas required to get initiated in the learning process to become an expert in the application of state-of-the-art quantitative spectroscopic techniques to the study of massive OB stars. NB: This chapter is intended to serve to young students as a first approach to a field which has attracted my attention during the last 20 years. I should note that, despite its importance, at present, the number of real experts in the field around the world is limited to less than 50 people, and about one third of them are close to retirement. Hence, I consider that this is a good moment to write a summary text on the subject to serve as guideline for the next generations of students interested in joining the massive star crew. If you are one of them, please, use this chapter as a first working notebook. Do not stop here. Dig also, for further details, into the literature I quote along the text. And, once there, dig even deeper to find all the original sources explaining in more detail the physical and technical concepts that are presently incorporated into our modern (almost) automatized tools.

Accepted for publication in the book "Reviews in Frontiers of Modern Astrophysics: From Space Debris to Cosmology" (eds Kabath, Jones and Skarka; publisher Springer Nature) funded by the European Union Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership grant "Per Aspera Ad Astra Simul" 2017-1-CZ01-KA203-035562

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Cited by in corpus (8)

• Theory and Diagnostics of Hot Star Mass Loss
• X-Shooting ULLYSES: massive stars at low metallicity. I. Project Description
• Quantitative spectroscopy of B-type supergiants
• Spectroscopic evolution of massive stars near the main sequence at low metallicity
• The IACOB project XV. Updated calibrations of fundamental parameters of Galactic O-type stars
• X-Shooting ULLYSES: Massive stars at low metallicity. XIII. Putting the bi-stability jump to the test in the LMC
• The Treasury of Extremely Metal-Poor O Stars
• A comparative study of O, Ne, Cl, and Ar in Hii regions and PNe of the Galactic disk: Temporal evolution of radial gradients?