Physics of Extreme Massive Stars

Massive stars are extreme cosmic engines, enriching their environments with chemically processed material throughout their entire life-time, and triggering star and planet formation. Despite their importance to cosmic evolution, the evolutionary path leading up to the death of massive stars as spectacular supernova explosions or to the formation of gravitational wave sources are most uncertain. One reason is certainly the lack of precise knowledge of the physical mechanisms behind mass-loss and eruptions.

The goal of the Physics of Extreme Massive Stars conference is to bring together scientists working in a range of subjects related to massive star research. It is the final conference of the European funded POEMS collaboration. It will address the processes that trigger mass loss in massive stars during extreme phases of their evolution, the study of the environments of massive stars on small and large scales and their binarity. During the past decade new cutting-edge numerical codes have been developed and used to compute grids of models describing the chemical and dynamical evolution of stars and their winds. At the same time, an avalanche of new data from different observatories using a diversity of observational techniques (both from satellite missions and from ground-based facilities) has been provided to the astronomical community leading to ground-breaking discoveries.

The main topics of the conference will be about:

• Winds of massive stars



• Fundamental parameters, chemical composition, and stellar classification



• Evolution of massive stars and their transition phases



• Stellar pulsations and pulsation-triggered mass-loss



• Circumstellar environments of massive stars



• Binarity in massive stars



• The final fate of massive stars



• Databases and their applications for massive star research

Invited speakers

• Circumstellar environments - Alex Carciofi (Brazil)



• Determination of fundamental parameters of massive stars - Lydia Cidale (Argentina)



• Infrared properties of Be stars - Yanina Cochetti (Argentina)



• Hydrodynamical view of massive stars’ winds - Michel Curé (Chile)



• Evolution and fate of massive stars - Michalis Kourniotis (Czech Republic)



• Yellow Hypergiants and Luminous Blue Variables - Alex Lobel (Belgium)



• Massive star binarity across the HRD - René Oudmaijer (UK)



• Winds of massive stars - Andreas Sander (Germany)

The format of the conference will be a series of invited talks, contributed talks, and poster presentations. After the conference, the presentations can be published online via ZENODO.