Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Historical overview
- 2 Observations of stellar winds
- 3 Basic concepts: isothermal winds
- 4 Basic concepts: non-isothermal winds
- 5 Coronal winds
- 6 Sound wave driven winds
- 7 Dust driven winds
- 8 Line driven winds
- 9 Magnetic rotator theory
- 10 Alfvén wave driven winds
- 11 Outflowing disks from rotating stars
- 12 Winds colliding with the interstellar medium
- 13 The effects of mass loss on stellar evolution
- 14 Problems
- APPENDIX 1 The chronology of stellar wind studies
- APPENDIX 2 Elements of thermodynamics
- APPENDIX 3 De l'Hopital's rule for equations with a singular point
- APPENDIX 4 Physical and astronomical constants
- Bibliography
- Object index
- Index
13 - The effects of mass loss on stellar evolution
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Historical overview
- 2 Observations of stellar winds
- 3 Basic concepts: isothermal winds
- 4 Basic concepts: non-isothermal winds
- 5 Coronal winds
- 6 Sound wave driven winds
- 7 Dust driven winds
- 8 Line driven winds
- 9 Magnetic rotator theory
- 10 Alfvén wave driven winds
- 11 Outflowing disks from rotating stars
- 12 Winds colliding with the interstellar medium
- 13 The effects of mass loss on stellar evolution
- 14 Problems
- APPENDIX 1 The chronology of stellar wind studies
- APPENDIX 2 Elements of thermodynamics
- APPENDIX 3 De l'Hopital's rule for equations with a singular point
- APPENDIX 4 Physical and astronomical constants
- Bibliography
- Object index
- Index
Summary
Mass loss has a profound effect on the evolution of stars. In the case of stars with initial masses greater than about 30 M⊙, mass loss occurs at a considerable rate throughout their whole life. So it affects their evolution from the beginning to the end. In the case of lower mass stars, mass loss is only important in the late stages of their evolution. For those stars only their late evolution is changed dramatically by mass loss. In this chapter we discuss some of the important effects of mass loss on the evolution of the stars. We first discuss the effects in general terms. Later we discuss the evolution of massive stars and of low mass stars under the influence of mass loss. We describe two characteristic examples in some detail: the evolution of a massive star of 60 M⊙ in § 13.2 and of a low mass star of 3 M⊙ in § 13.3. The effect of mass loss on stellar evolution has been described in several reviews: e.g. Iben and Renzini (1983), Chiosi and Maeder (1986) and at several conferences: e.g. Mennessier and Omont (1990) and Leitherer et al. (1996).
The main effects of mass loss
Changes in the surface composition
The outer layers of stars are peeled off by mass loss. Nuclear fusion occurs in the interior of stars. This nuclear fusion changes the chemical composition and the abundance ratios of the elements in the layers where the fusion occurs.
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- Introduction to Stellar Winds , pp. 385 - 397Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999