ABSTRACT

Abbott, David C. Astrophysicist. In 1976, in collaboration with John I. Castor and Richard I. Klein, developed the theory of winds in early type stars (CAK theory). Through hydrodynamic models and atomic data, they showed that the total line-radiation pressure is the probable mechanism that drives the wind in these systems, being able to account for the observed wind speeds, wind mass-loss rates, and general form of the ultraviolet P-Cygni line profiles through which the wind was originally detected.