AAS 207th Meeting, 8-12 January 2006
Session 193 Recent Discoveries in the Far Ultraviolet
Special Session, Thursday, 10:00-11:30am, January 12, 2006, Delaware B

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[193.04] Hot Stars and Mass Loss

A. W. Fullerton (UVic/STScI)

The far-ultraviolet region of the spectrum contains a rich variety of diagnostics of the photospheres and winds of hot, massive stars. The most prominent spectral features are the resonance lines of ionized metals, which are due both to elements that are cosmically abundant (e.g., C, N, O) and to elements that are comparatively rare (e.g., P, S). These features probe a wide range of physical conditions in the atmospheres of early-type stars.

By providing access to this powerful suite of diagnostics, FUSE has enabled substantial progress in determining the properties of early-type stars in the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds. Topics pursued by FUSE investigators include: comparing spectral morphology as a function of metallicity; providing empirical constraints on ionization equilibria in hot-star winds; characterizing the incidence and behavior of the {O~{\sc vi}} ``super ion"; studying time-dependent phenomena associated with the winds of single stars, wind-wind collisions in close binary systems, and photospheric pulsations; and determining fundamental stellar parameters as a function of metallicity.

This presentation will highlight the contributions of FUSE to recent revisions of the effective temperature scale and the mass-loss rates of O-type stars, both of which have wide-ranging implications for our understanding of the evolution of massive stars and the feedback they provide to their interstellar environments.


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