On the mass-loss properties of the most massive stars
Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG, United Kingdom
Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG, United Kingdom
Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG, United Kingdom
Abstract
The most massive stars are believed to form Wolf-Rayet like emission line spectra already on the main sequence. One goal of the new VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey is to understand the nature of such ‘O stars on steroids’, and to investigate the transition from normal O star to WR-type mass loss. The Tarantula nebula (30 Dor) hosts the closest starburst-like region in our neighborhood, with a cluster of 30-50 extremely massive stars in its center. In this paper we present a multi-wavelength program that includes integral field K-band spectra of the central region of 30 Dor with VLT/SINFONI. We discuss the prospects of this program in the context of our theoretical work on gamma-dependent mass-loss rates in the O-WR transition phase.