@misc{VinkHegerKrumholzetal.2012, author = {Vink, Jorick Sandor and Heger, Alexander and Krumholz, Mark R. and Puls, Joachim and Banerjee, Shiladitya and Castro, Norberto and Chen, K.-J. and Chen{\`e}, A.-N. and Crowther, P. A. and Daminelli, A. and Gr{\"a}fener, G. and Groh, J. H. and Hamann, Wolf-Rainer and Heap, S. and Herrero, A. and Kaper, L. and Najarro, F. and Oskinova, Lida M. and Roman-Lopes, A. and Rosen, A. and Sander, A. and Shirazi, M. and Sugawara, Y. and Tramper, F. and Vanbeveren, D. and Voss, R. and Wofford, A. and Zhang, Y.}, title = {Very massive stars in the local universe}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {601}, issn = {1866-8372}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-41522}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-415220}, pages = {29}, year = {2012}, abstract = {Recent studies have claimed the existence of very massive stars (VMS) up to 300 M⊙ in the local Universe. As this finding may represent a paradigm shift for the canonical stellar upper-mass limit of 150 M⊙, it is timely to discuss the status of the data, as well as the far-reaching implications of such objects. We held a Joint Discussion at the General Assembly in Beijing to discuss (i) the determination of the current masses of the most massive stars, (ii) the formation of VMS, (iii) their mass loss, and (iv) their evolution and final fate. The prime aim was to reach broad consensus between observers and theorists on how to identify and quantify the dominant physical processes.}, language = {en} }