Publication Abstracts

Stothers and Chin 1995

Stothers, R.B., and C.-W. Chin, 1995: A period-luminosity relation for the slow variation of luminous blue variables. Astrophys. J., 451, L61-L64, doi:10.1086/309686.

The slow (annual-to-decadal) cycles of light and color variation displayed by many luminous blue variables show mean "periods" that are inversely proportional to the star's luminosities. New theoretical evolutionary tracks reveal that very massive stars undergo repeated mass outbursts due to quasi-secular oscillations of the stellar envelope between dynamically stable and unstable states, at the observed locations of LBVs at quiesence in the H-R diagram. Within the estimated errors, the models correctly predict the observed "periods," eruption mass-loss rates, and lack of dependence of these rates on the stars' luminosities. During a cycle the models shift nearly imperceptibly on the H-R diagram. Observed variations of light and color in the LBVs are therefore probably attributable to changes in size of the optically thick ejected cloud. An earlier phase of stronger dynamical instability is predicted to have led to the ejection of huge circumstellar shells, whose computed masses scale with stellar luminosity in roughly the manner observed for massive old nebulae surrounding LBVs.

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BibTeX Citation

@article{st09000a,
  author={Stothers, R. B. and Chin, C.-W.},
  title={A period-luminosity relation for the slow variation of luminous blue variables},
  year={1995},
  journal={Astrophysical Journal},
  volume={451},
  pages={L61--L64},
  doi={10.1086/309686},
}

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RIS Citation

TY  - JOUR
ID  - st09000a
AU  - Stothers, R. B.
AU  - Chin, C.-W.
PY  - 1995
TI  - A period-luminosity relation for the slow variation of luminous blue variables
JA  - Astrophys. J.
JO  - Astrophysical Journal
VL  - 451
SP  - L61
EP  - L64
DO  - 10.1086/309686
ER  -

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