Stellar winds in the Small Magellanic Cloud

Journal Article · Thu Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1988 · Astrophys. J.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/166688· OSTI ID:6575581

Garmany, C D; Fitzpatrick, E L

According to the predictions of line-driven stellar wind theory, the mass loss from luminous stars should be proportional to some power of the metallicity, yet previous studies have not shown this effect clearly. The authors have observed 22 main-sequence and giant O-type stars n the SMC with the low-resolution mode of the IUE in order to study the stellar winds in a particularly metal-poor galaxy. These stars are compared with carefully selected Galactic counterparts for wind terminal velocities and line strengths of C IV and N v. While the wind velocities in the SMC stars are confirmed to be systematically lower than in Galactic stars, as theory predicts, the mass-loss rates which are inferred from these data are comparable to those in the Galactic stars. The possible reasons for this result are discussed, including systematic effects in the data, assumed metal abundance, different ionization structure, and different physical parameters for the SMC stars. 32 references.

• Research Organization: Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, Boulder, CO (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6575581
• Journal Information: Astrophys. J.; (United States), Journal Name: Astrophys. J.; (United States) Vol. 332; ISSN ASJOA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640105* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Galaxies
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ABUNDANCE
CARBON
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
ELEMENTS
GALAXIES
IONIZATION
MAGELLANIC CLOUDS
MAIN SEQUENCE STARS
MASS TRANSFER
NITROGEN
NONMETALS
SPECTRA
STARS
STELLAR ACTIVITY
STELLAR WINDS
ULTRAVIOLET SPECTRA
VELOCITY