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Dynamical instability as the cause of the massive outbursts in Eta Carinae and other luminous blue variablesA new type of stellar envelope structure has been computationally discovered at very high stellar masses. The outer part of the envelope resembles a nearly detached, diffusely filled shell overlying an ultrahot surface of small radius. This structural anomaly is caused by a large iron bump occurring in the new opacities of Iglesias et al. (1992). The new stellar models with normal metallicity encounter a strong ionization-induced dynamical instability in the outer envelope as they rapidly transit the H-R diagram after the end of central hydrogen burning. Preliminary evolutionary and hydrodynamical calculations successfully mimic the most basic observed properties of Eta Carinae and other very luminous blue variables. The Humphreys-Davidson sloped line in the H-R diagram, however, seems to be unrelated to these variables, and is instead the observed terminus of the main-sequence phase of evolution if convective core overshooting is insignificant.
Document ID
19930051792
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Stothers, Richard B.
(NASA Goddard Inst. for Space Studies New York, NY, United States)
Chin, Chao-Wen
(NASA Goddard Inst. for Space Studies New York, United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
May 10, 1993
Publication Information
Publication: Astrophysical Journal, Part 2 - Letters
Volume: 408
Issue: 2
ISSN: 0004-637X
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Accession Number
93A35789
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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