Empirical Mass-Loss Rates across the Upper Hertzsprung-Russell-Diagram

TL;DR

This paper reviews empirical measurements of mass-loss rates in various luminous stars, highlighting the challenges and uncertainties in current observations that impact stellar evolution modeling.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of empirical mass-loss rates across different stellar types and discusses the effects of chemical abundances and observational uncertainties.

Findings

Mass-loss rates vary significantly among stellar types.

Uncertainties in measurements hinder accurate stellar evolution models.

Chemical abundances influence mass-loss scaling.

Abstract

I provide an overview of the empirical mass-loss rates of hot and cool luminous stars. Stellar species included in this talk are luminous OB stars, Wolf-Rayet stars, asymptotic giant branch stars, and red supergiants. I discuss the scaling of mass loss with stellar properties, with special emphasis on the influences of chemical abundances. Observational errors and systematic uncertainties are still substantial and vary with stellar type. These uncertainties are a major impediment for the construction of reliable stellar evolution models.