Abstract
As has been recently established, the atmospheres of early-type stars are strongly disheveled. These atmospheres consist of dense clumps and a more rarefied interclump medium. We consider the forces that determine the motion of the clumps. We show that the main force is gravitational attraction of the clumps to the star. For stars with a high effective temperature (Teff ≥ 6 · 104 K) it appears that the clump/interclump gas number density ratio is ≥ 30. In this case we can conclude that the clumps are formed by shock waves. Some evidence as to the existence of gas jets in the atmospheres of Wolf-Rayet stars have recently been presented. We propose that such jets may be a common feature of all early-type stars. Profiles of HeI lines in spectra of clumped atmospheres with jets have been calculated.
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