SUPERGIANTS: STELLAR WINDS AND MASS-LOSS

TL;DRAbstract

The knowledge of stellar wind properties and mass loss rates in massive stars is a milestone in the stellar evolution and disk formation process. Our current view of winds reveals they are often highly variable and inhomogeneous. We review here the wind structure of early-type stars, such as the new hydrodynamical solutions, the wind clumping and the weak-wind problem. We also discuss the peculiar circumstellar environment around some short-lived phases of evolved massive stars (i.e., LBV and B[e] supergiants). Accurate mass loss rate estimates are crucial keys to discuss the importance of different triggering mechanisms in driving a wind. Massive stars return nucleosynthetically processed material to their surroundings through massloss events and supernovae. Depending on the amount of mass lost, stellar winds may modify the final stage of stars’ life (stellar evolution timescales and the final core mass). The mechanical energy and momentum transfered by the wind to the circumstellar m

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