Abstract
The recent VIIth Catalogue of Galactic Wolf-Rayet Stars lists 227 Population I WR stars, comprising 127 WN, 87 WC, 10 WN/WC and 3 WO stars. Additional discoveries bring the census to 234 WR stars, including 22 WNL and 11 WCL stars within 50 pc of the Galactic Center.
A re-determination of the optical photometric distances and the galactic distribution of WR stars shows in the solar neighbourhood a projected surface density of 2.7 WR stars per kpc2, a NWC/NWN number ratio of 1.3, and a WR binary frequency of 40%.
The galactocentric distance (RWR) distribution per subtype shows \(\overline {{R_{WN}}} \) and \(\overline {{R_{WN}}} \) decreasing with later WN and WC subtypes. The observed trend is more indicative of WNE → WCE and WNL → WCL subtype evolution, rather than of WNL → WNE and WCL → WCE subtype evolution.
Compared with other Local Group galaxies and in relation with metallicity, the Milky Way has within 3 kpc from the Sun a number ratio NWC/NWN = 1.3, which is a factor of ~ 2 above the expected trend. This could mean that some 30 galactic WN stars in the d < 3 kpc volume are still hiding.
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van der Hucht, K.A. (2001). The Observed Galactic Wolf-Rayet Star Distribution in Relation with Metallicity. In: Vanbeveren, D. (eds) The Influence of Binaries on Stellar Population Studies. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 264. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9723-4_11
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