The most massive stars in the local universe

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• Paul Crowther (Sheffield)
• Wednesday 23 January 2013, 14:00-15:00
• Nuffield G13.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Ilya Mandel.

The lower limit to the mass of stars is well defined, while the upper limit remains controversial. I shall summarise evidence in support of the currently accepted limit, and present recent VLT -based studies of the brightest members of young, nearby star clusters which argue for a higher limit. Consideration is given to questions of binarity using a variety of methods, while we present simulations of star clusters which argue for an upper mass limit close to 300 solar masses. The wider significance of this limit is discussed both for the integrated properties of unresolved star clusters and the possibility that pair-instability supernovae exist in the local universe, as proposed for SN 2007bi.

This talk is part of the Astrophysics Talks Series series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• Astrophysics Talks Series
• Bham Talks
• Nuffield G13
• What's on in Physics?

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