An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

The standard model of → radiation-driven winds in which the acceleration of → stellar wind is provided by the → absorption and → scattering of ultraviolet photons in ions of abundant elements (→ CNO, → iron peak) in the → Lyman continuum. The model was developed by Castor et al. (1975), who assumed that the forces due to the radiative lines and the pressure gradients are functions of local velocity gradient, and used a large number (~ 10⁵) of lines which have a statistical distribution in line strengths. The model led to predictions of → mass loss rates (M_dot) and terminal velocities as a function of stellar properties and the line statistics parameters. With the modifications by Friend and Abbott (1986), Pauldrach et al. (1986), and Kudritzki et al. (1989), CAK multi-line theory gives good agreement with observationally derived values of mass loss rate and → terminal velocity (v_∞). CAK wind solutions predict the terminal velocity to be proportional to the → escape velocity and the mass loss rate to depend strongly on the stellar → luminosity. Observations over the past decades have shown that these main wind parameters, M_dot and v_∞, indeed behave as predicted by CAK. This basic agreement between observations and theory provides strong evidence that the winds from → massive stars are driven by → radiation pressure and this has favored the CAK formalism. See also → multiple scattering. See the review by J. Puls et al. 2008, Astron. Astrophys. Rev. 16, 209.

CAK, the initials of the researchers who developed the model: J.I. Castor, D.C. Abbott, and R.I. Klein(1975, Radiation-driven winds in Of stars, ApJ 195, 157); → model.