B[e] Stars, 1998 Astrophysics and Space Science Library Series, Vol. 233

The idea of having a meeting came to the Editors when working on several aspects of galactic Be and B[e] stars. They found that a general summary of the properties of B[e] stars was missing, so that the organiza­ tion of a first meeting on these objects appeared as very useful. B[e] stars have hydrogen line emission and forbidden [Fe 11] and [0 I] emission lines in their spectra; they are also characterized by a strong IR excess due to circumstellar dust. Having a large amount of extinction in the UV and the visual they have been less frequently observed than other emission line objects. Although about one hundred galactic objects have been classified as B[e], only fif­ teen or so have been studied in some detail. Besides this, the evolutionary status of these objects is rat her controversial, are they pre-main sequence or stars on the way to become nUclei of planetary nebulae? Other difficult problems appear when considering the relations of these stars with other similar groups, like Herbig AeBe stars, Be, luminous blue variables and the superluminous B[e] stars observed in the Magellanic Clouds. The conference seems timely since large surveys like DENIS and 2Mass, plus new space and new instruments for the micron, millimeter and cen­ timeter wavelength region will result in the discovery of more stars of this group.

Search for B[e] Stars in Young Open Clusters.- Absolute Magnitudes for some B[e] Stars from Hipparcos.- Tycho Photometry of some B[e] Stars.- Fundamental Parameters of two B[e] Stars: HD 45677 and HD 50138.- Ultraviolet Extinction of Circumstellar Dust in HD 45677.- The Self Absorption Curve Method for the Analysis of Emission Lines of Complex Ions as a Diagnostic of the Structure of Stellar Envelopes.- The High Excitation Fe II Lines as a Diagnostics of the Outer Envelopes of Early Type Emission Line Stars.- Nitrogen V in the Wind of the Pre-Main Sequence Herbig Ae Star AB Aur.- New Spectroscopic Results for the Galactic B[e]-Supergiant MWC 314.- High-Resolution Spectroscopy of HD 45677.- The Galactic B[e] Supergiant Candidate HD 87643.- Rapid Spectral Variability and Spatial and Kinematical Structure of Circumstellar Envelopes of Some Ae/Be Stars.- New Spectroscopic Data of Luminous Peculiar B-Type Stars.- Dielectronic Recombination of Mg II. Influence in the Infrared Continuum of B[e] Stars.- Spectroscopy and Photometry of B[e]-Star Candidates AS 78 and LS II +22°8.- Analysis of the Emission Line Spectrum of V 380 Ori and HD 45677.- Long-Term Spectrophotometric Behaviour of B[e] Stars.- Observations of Galactic B[e] Stars at the Tien-Shan Observatory.- Polarimetric Variability of some Peculiar Ae/Be Stars.- Polarimetry of Southern Peculiar Early-Type Stars.- Sub-Milliarcsecond Structures in P Cyg.- Wind-Compressed Disks and Dust Formation in B[e] Stars.- Latitudinal Dependence of Radiatively Driven Mass Loss from Rapidly Rotating Hot-Stars.- Mass Loss Rates from B[e] Stars.- Infrared Emission from Dust around B[e] Stars.- Axisymmetric Model Atmospheres of B[e] Stars.- Evolutionary Connections among Massive Stars — An Observer’s Perspective.- The Nature of theExtreme Emission Line Star MWC 297.- The Spectroscopic Variety of Different Categories of B-Emission Line Stars.- EELOs: Can We Define a Galactic B[e] Group?.- 8. A Revised Classification Scheme for B[e] Stars.- Author Index.- Object Index.