The return of mass and energy to the interstellar medium by winds from early-type stars
D. C. Abbott;
ApJ, 1982, 263, 723
ABSTRACT:The kinetic energy of the stellar winds from a complete sample of B and A supergiants, O stars, and Wolf-Rayet stars has been either measured or estimated
from well-defined calibrations.
Within a distance of 3 kpc from the sun,
these stars are currently returning mass and energy to the interstellar
medium (ISM) at an average rate of 9 x 10 to the -5th solar masses/yr/sq Kpc and 2 x
10 to the 38th ergs/s/sq Kpc.
Nuclear-processed material in the winds of
Wolf-Rayet stars produces enrichment yields for the interstellar gas of 0.0073
for He and 0.0023 for CNO.
The input of wind energy from these stars greatly
exceeds the wind input from stars of other spectral types, but it is less than the
supernovae energy input by about a factor of five.
Considering individual phases
of the ISM, stellar radiation completely dominates the heating rate of H
II regions, supernovae are the major source of energy for the hot
intercloud gas and the kinetic energy of the cloud motions, and stellar radiation
and supernovae are of equal importance for heating neutral
clouds.
Although winds are of secondary importance to the global energy equilibrium,
they dominate the energetics of the interstellar gas in the vicinity of the
more massive OB associations.
KEYWORDS: early stars, interstellar matter, stellar mass ejection, stellar winds, energy transfer, h ii regions, interstellar gas, o stars, stellar radiation, supergiant stars, supernovae, wind velocity, wolf-rayet stars
CODE: abbott82