Very Massive Stars and the Eddington Limit

Abstract

We use contemporary evolutionary models for Very Massive Stars (VMS) to assess whether the Eddington limit constrains the upper stellar mass limit. We also consider the interplay between mass and age for the wind properties and spectral morphology of VMS, with reference to the recently modified classification scheme for O2-3.5If*/WN stars. Finally, the death of VMS in the local universe is considered in the context of pair instability supernovae.