Very Massive Stars in the Local Universe
Jorick S. Vink (Armagh Observatory)
TL;DR
This paper reviews recent evidence for very massive stars up to 300 solar masses in the local universe, discussing their mass determination, formation, evolution, and ultimate fate, challenging the traditional stellar mass limit.
Contribution
It provides a comprehensive evaluation of the physics, formation, and evolution of very massive stars, integrating recent observational and theoretical advances.
Findings
VMS can reach up to 300 solar masses in the local universe
Current models are being updated to incorporate VMS physics
The existence of VMS challenges the canonical stellar upper-mass limit of 150 solar masses
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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