Assigned ID: 544 ----- Attempting Submission 1 (Fri Mar 07 20:18:48 GMT 2008) ----- Much of our current knowledge about stars comes from detailed studies of their spectra. Unfortunately to interpret their spectra requires detailed atmospheric models. To facilitate the study of massive star spectra we will significantly enhance and further develop the radiative transfer code, CMFGEN, which is publicly available at my web-page (www.pitt.edu/~hillier). This code has been successfully used to model OB stars, Wolf-Rayet (W-R) stars, Luminous Blue variables, A supergiants, [W-R] central-stars of planetary nebulae, and supernovae, and has been used to make available to the community theoretical UV fluxes for both O stars and W-R stars. Massive stars play an important role in starbursts and galaxies --- dynamically, energetically, and chemically. Mass loss from massive stars significantly affects the elemental abundance ratios in starbursts and plays a major role in the origin and recycling of the elements in the ISM of galaxies. Massive stars are thought to play a key role in the metal enrichment of the early Universe, are responsible for reionization, and are also thought to be responsible for one class of gamma-ray bursters. Understanding massive stars, their radiation, their mass-loss rates, and having reliable parameters is thus crucial to many different areas of astrophysics. CMFGEN has made a significant contribution to the analysis of massive stars; the proposed enhancements will allow CMFGEN to continue to be an invaluable tool to expand our astrophysical knowledge.

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