Possible mechanisms for the Hubble-Sandage /S Doradus/ variables

The unexplained long-term variability of the light of the brightest nonexplosive stars known, namely the Hubble-Sandage (or S Doradus) variables, is investigated in terms of the following mechanisms: (1) episodic, nearly catastrophic mass loss, perhaps accompanied by temporary shrinkage of the stellar radius, in a luminous supergiant; (2) flickering of a hydrogen-burning or helium-burning shell; (3) hydrogen flashing in an evolved stellar core; (4) pulsation of a luminous supergiant envelope near the Eddington limit of radiative stability; (5) pulsation of a dense circumstellar gas or dust cloud; (6) overturning of giant convection cells (or some other kind or nonradial oscillation) in a luminous supergiant envelope; or (7) vibrational instability and mass outflow in an extremely massive main-sequence star. It is believed that the second and third suggestions can all but definitely be ruled out and that the sixth and seventh are rather unlikely. Preference is given to the notion that a sudden, massive outflow of matter may sometimes occur from the surface of an evolved supergiant of very high mass.