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arXiv · 1406.4836

Very Massive Stars in the Local Universe

Jorick S. Vink
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Abstract

Recent studies suggest the existence of very massive stars (VMS) up to 300 solar masses in the local Universe. As this finding may represent a paradigm shift for the canonical stellar upper-mass limit of 150 solar masses, it is timely to evaluate the physics specific to VMS, which is currently missing. For this reason, we decided to construct a book entailing both a discussion of the accuracy of VMS masses (Martins), as well as the physics of VMS formation (Krumholz), mass loss (Vink), instabilities (Owocki), evolution (Hirschi), and fate (theory -- Woosley & Heger; observations -- Smith).

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Jorick S. Vink. 2014-06-18. Very Massive Stars in the Local Universe. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09596-7

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