Applicability of steady models for hot-star winds

Non-Sobolev models of radiatively driven stellar winds based on a pure-absorption approximation do not have a well-defined steady state. Here the implications of this for flow time-dependence are examined, showing that, under such circumstances, instabilities in the flow attain an absolute character that leads to intrinsic variability. In this case, steady solutions are inherently inapplicable because they do not represent physically realizable states. However, for actual hot-star winds, driving is principally by scattering, not pure absorption. In practice, the relatively weak force associated with slight asymmetries in the diffuse, scattered radiation field may play a crucial role in breaking the solution degeneracy and reducing the instability from an absolute to an advective character.