English

A Study of Primordial Very Massive Star Evolution

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2023-02-14 v3 Astrophysics of Galaxies High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Abstract

We present new evolutionary models of primordial very massive stars, with initial masses ranging from 100M100\,\mathrm{{M}_{\odot}} to 1000M1000\,\mathrm{{M}_{\odot}}, that extend from the main sequence until the onset of dynamical instability caused by the creation of electron-positron pairs during core C, Ne, or O burning, depending on the star's mass and metallicity. Mass loss accounts for radiation-driven winds as well as pulsation-driven mass-loss on the main sequence and during the red supergiant phase. After examining the evolutionary properties, we focus on the final outcome of the models and associated compact remnants. Stars that avoid the pair-instability supernova channel, should produce black holes with masses ranging from 40M\approx 40\, \mathrm{{M}_{\odot}} to 1000M\approx 1000\,\mathrm{{M}_{\odot}}. In particular, stars with initial masses of about 100M100\,\mathrm{{M}_{\odot}} could leave black holes of 8590M\simeq 85-90\, \mathrm{{M}_{\odot}}, values consistent with the estimated primary black hole mass of the GW190521 merger event. Overall, these results may contribute to explain future data from next-generation gravitational-wave detectors, such as the Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer, which will have access to as-yet unexplored BH mass range of 102104M\approx 10^2-10^4\,\mathrm{{M}_{\odot}} in the early universe.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2212.09629,
  title  = {A Study of Primordial Very Massive Star Evolution},
  author = {Guglielmo Volpato and Paola Marigo and Guglielmo Costa and Alessandro Bressan and Michele Trabucchi and Léo Girardi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2212.09629},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

14 pages, 9 figures; zenodo link for wind ejecta tables

R2 v1 2026-06-28T07:42:41.298Z