@article{HamannGraefenerLiermannetal.2019, author = {Hamann, Wolf-Rainer and Gr{\"a}fener, G. and Liermann, A. and Hainich, Rainer and Sander, Andreas Alexander Christoph and Shenar, Tomer and Ramachandran, Varsha and Todt, Helge Tobias and Oskinova, Lida}, title = {The Galactic WN stars revisited}, series = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal}, volume = {625}, journal = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal}, publisher = {EDP Sciences}, address = {Les Ulis}, issn = {1432-0746}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/201834850}, pages = {11}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Comprehensive spectral analyses of the Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars of the nitrogen sequence (i.e. the WN subclass) have been performed in a previous paper. However, the distances of these objects were poorly known. Distances have a direct impact on the "absolute" parameters, such as luminosities and mass-loss rates. The recent Gaia Data Release (DR2) of trigonometric parallaxes includes nearly all WN stars of our Galactic sample. In the present paper, we apply the new distances to the previously analyzed Galactic WN stars and rescale the results accordingly. On this basis, we present a revised catalog of 55 Galactic WN stars with their stellar and wind parameters. The correlations between mass-loss rate and luminosity show a large scatter, for the hydrogen-free WN stars as well as for those with detectable hydrogen. The slopes of the log L - log M correlations are shallower than found previously. The empirical Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (HRD) still shows the previously established dichotomy between the hydrogen-free early WN subtypes that are located on the hot side of the zero-age main sequence (ZAMS), and the late WN subtypes, which show hydrogen and reside mostly at cooler temperatures than the ZAMS (with few exceptions). However, with the new distances, the distribution of stellar luminosities became more continuous than obtained previously. The hydrogen-showing stars of late WN subtype are still found to be typically more luminous than the hydrogen-free early subtypes, but there is a range of luminosities where both subclasses overlap. The empirical HRD of the Galactic single WN stars is compared with recent evolutionary tracks. Neither these single-star evolutionary models nor binary scenarios can provide a fully satisfactory explanation for the parameters of these objects and their location in the HRD.}, language = {en} } @article{HainichRuehlingTodtetal.2014, author = {Hainich, Rainer and Ruehling, Ute and Todt, Helge Tobias and Oskinova, Lida and Liermann, A. and Graefener, G. and Foellmi, C. and Schnurr, O. and Hamann, Wolf-Rainer}, title = {The Wolf-Rayet stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud - A comprehensive analysis of the WN class}, series = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal}, volume = {565}, journal = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal}, publisher = {EDP Sciences}, address = {Les Ulis}, issn = {0004-6361}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/201322696}, pages = {62}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Context. Massive stars, although being important building blocks of galaxies, are still not fully understood. This especially holds true for Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars with their strong mass loss, whose spectral analysis requires adequate model atmospheres. Aims. Following our comprehensive studies of the WR stars in the Milky Way, we now present spectroscopic analyses of almost all known WN stars in the LMC. Methods. For the quantitative analysis of the wind-dominated emission-line spectra, we employ the Potsdam Wolf-Rayet (PoWR) model atmosphere code. By fitting synthetic spectra to the observed spectral energy distribution and the available spectra (ultraviolet and optical), we obtain the physical properties of 107 stars. Results. We present the fundamental stellar and wind parameters for an almost complete sample of WN stars in the LMC. Among those stars that are putatively single, two different groups can be clearly distinguished. While 12\% of our sample are more luminous than 10(6) L-circle dot and contain a significant amount of hydrogen, 88\% of the WN stars, with little or no hydrogen, populate the luminosity range between log (L/L-circle dot) = 5.3 ... 5.8. Conclusions. While the few extremely luminous stars (log (L/L-circle dot) > 6), if indeed single stars, descended directly from the main sequence at very high initial masses, the bulk of WN stars have gone through the red-supergiant phase. According to their luminosities in the range of log (L/L-circle dot) = 5.3 ... 5.8, these stars originate from initial masses between 20 and 40 M-circle dot. This mass range is similar to the one found in the Galaxy, i.e. the expected metallicity dependence of the evolution is not seen. Current stellar evolution tracks, even when accounting for rotationally induced mixing, still partly fail to reproduce the observed ranges of luminosities and initial masses. Moreover, stellar radii are generally larger and effective temperatures correspondingly lower than predicted from stellar evolution models, probably due to subphotospheric inflation.}, language = {en} }