Giant eruptions of very massive stars

Understand

Giant eruptions or supernova-impostor events are far more mysterious than true supernovae.

• An extreme example can release as much radiative energy as a SN, ejecting several M_sun of material.
• These events involve continuous radiation-driven outflows rather than blast waves.
• They constitute one of the main unsolved problems in stellar astrophysics, but have received surprisingly little theoretical effort.