Are WNL stars tracers of high metallicity?

Götz Gräfener and Wolf-Rainer Hamann

Universität Potsdam, Institut für Physik, Astrophysik

We present new atmosphere models for Wolf-Rayet stars that include a self-consistent solution of the wind hydrodynamics. We demonstrate that the formation of optically thick WR winds can be explained by radiative driving on Fe line opacities, implying a strong dependence on metallicity (Z). Z-dependent model calculations for late-type WN stars show that these objects are very massive stars close to the Eddington limit, and that their formation is strongly favored for high metallicity environments.

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