Abstract
ABSTRACT Certain modifications of the stellar-wind theory reported by Castor et al. (1975) have improved its agreement with observations of O star winds and answered some questions regarding its approximations. The present status of agreement between radiatively-driven wind theory and observations of hot-star winds is discussed. It is pointed out that the state of the comparison between radiatively-driven wind theory and observation for Wolf-Rayet stars has changed recently with two important discoveries. According to one, multiline scattering can provide mass-loss rates well in excess of the 'single scattering limit'. The second discovery is that at least one W-R star is very hot. The temperature referred to the thermalizing radius of V444 Cygni is about 95,000 K. All instabilities considered so far are drift instabilities, at least in the realistic limit that isothermal oscillations are assumed.
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