SearcharxivSearch

arXiv · 0810.3311

Interaction of massive stars with their surroundings

Abstract

Due to their short lifetimes but their enormous energy release in all stages of their lives massive stars are the major engines for the comic matter circuit. They affect not only their close environment but are also responsible to drive mass flows on galactic scales. Recent 2D models of radiation-driven and wind-blown HII regions are summarized which explore the impact of massive stars to the interstellar medium but find surprisingly small energy transfer efficiencies while an observable Carbon self-enrichment in the Wolf-Rayet phase is detected in the warm ionized gas. Finally, the focus is set on state-of-the-art modelling of HII regions and its present weaknesses with respect to uncertainties and simplifications but on a perspective of the requested art of their modelling in the 21st century.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

Gerhard Hensler. 2008-10-18. Interaction of massive stars with their surroundings. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1743921308023090

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Rotation Curves of Spiral Galaxies

Rotation curves of spiral galaxies are the major tool for determining the distribution of mass in spiral galaxies. They provide fundamental information for understanding the dynamics, evolution and formation of spiral galaxies. We describe various methods to derive rotation curves, and review the results obtained. We discuss the basic characteristics of observed rotation curves in relation to various galaxy properties, such as Hubble type, structure, activity, and environment.

astro-ph

Abrupt global events in the Earth's history: a physics perspective

The timeline of the Earth's history reveals quasi-periodicity of the geological record over the last 542 Myr, on timescales close, in the order of magnitude, to 1 Myr. What is the origin of this quasi-periodicity? What is the nature of the global events that define the boundaries of the geological time scale? I propose that a single mechanism is responsible for all three types of such events: mass extinctions, geomagnetic polarity reversals, and sea-level fluctuations. The mechanism is fast, and involves a significant energy release. The mechanism is unlikely to have astronomical causes, both because of the energies involved, and because it acts quasi-periodically. It must then be sought within the Earth itself. And it must be capable of reversing the Earth's magnetic field. The last requirement makes it incompatible with the consensus model of the origin of the geomagnetic field - the hydromagnetic dynamo operating in the Earth's fluid core. In the second part of the paper, I show that a vast amount of seemingly unconnected geophysical and geological data can be understood in a unified way if the source of the Earth's main magnetic field is a ~200-km-thick lithosphere, repeatedly magnetized as a result of methane-driven oceanic eruptions, which produce ocean flow capable of dynamo action. The eruptions are driven by the interplay of buoyancy forces and exsolution of dissolved gas, which accumulates in the oceanic water masses prone to stagnation and anoxia. Polarity reversals, mass extinctions, and sequence boundaries are consequences of these eruptions. Unlike the consensus model of geomagnetism, this scenario is consistent with the paleomagnetic data showing that "directional changes during a [geomagnetic polarity] reversal can be astonishingly fast, possibly occurring as a nearly instantaneous jump from one inclined dipolar state to another in the opposite hemisphere".

astro-ph

Putting The Together A Cyclical Baryonic Universe

There are multiple examples of gravitational losses in neutron stars and black holes. Protons and neutrons have been found to have enormous repulsive pressures that highly squeezed collapsing matter cannot overcome. The case against singularities follows. Galactic black hole gravitational losses can supply the missing dark energy. With highly squeezed nucleons, the big bang could begin as a hot core and a cold dark matter shell. The 21 cm. radiation data has identified baryon sized particles as cold dark matter. Highly squeezed nucleons will not decompose to produce antimatter. The flatness of the Universe is due to a baryonic bounce. The highly correlated galaxies originated from primordial black holes capturing hot core gasses.There is evidence that galaxies have not grown nor merged significantly since formation.

astro-ph