Stellar Evolution with Pulsation-Driven Mass Loss: The Case of LMC Cepheids

Abstract

The Cepheid mass discrepancy, the difference between mass estimates from stellar pulsation and stellar evolution models, is a long standing challenge for the understanding of stellar astrophysics. We discuss the current state of the mass discrepancy and test the role of pulsation-driven mass loss in state-of-the-art stellar evolution calculations of Large Magellanic Cepheids in resolving it. We find that Cepheid mass loss is a significant contributor to the mass discrepancy, but it is not clear if the metallicity dependence of Cepheid mass loss is consistent with the measured metallicity dependence of the mass discrepancy.

6 pages, 3 figures, To appear in the proceedings of "The 9th Pacific Rim Conference on Stellar Astrophysics", (Lijiang, China, April, 2011), ASPC