A runaway ‘superwind’ could strip massive stars into Wolf-Rayet stars without a companion

The most massive stars often shed their outer layers to become Wolf-Rayet stars — hot, stripped cores driving fierce winds — before they explode. The usual explanation is a binary companion peeling the envelope away. A new modeling study suggests a lone star might strip itself, through a runaway “superwind” that feeds on its own mass loss, becoming a Wolf-Rayet star with no partner at all. We explain how it works, and why the result hinges on one uncertain ingredient.

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