Related papers: Massive star evolution: from the early to the pres…
Massive stars have strong stellar winds that direct their evolution through the upper Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and determine the black hole mass function. Secondly, wind strength dictates the atmospheric structure that sets the ionising…
In the present paper we discuss a selection of facts and questions related to observations and evolutionary calculations of massive single stars and massive stars in interacting binaries. We focus on the surface chemical abundances, the…
The Geneva evolutionary code has been modified to study the advanced stages (Ne, O, Si burnings) of rotating massive stars. Here we present the results of four 20 solar mass stars at solar metallicity with initial rotational velocities of…
We review the role of rotation in massive close binary systems. Rotation has been advocated as an essential ingredient in massive single star models. However, rotation clearly is most important in massive binaries where one star accretes…
Most stars with birth masses larger than that of our Sun belong to binary or higher order multiple systems. Similarly, most stars have stellar winds. Radiation pressure and multiplicity create outflows of material that remove mass from the…
The post main-sequence evolution of massive stars is very sensitive to many parameters of the stellar models. Key parameters are the mixing processes, the metallicity, the mass-loss rate and the effect of a close companion. We study how the…
Massive stars and their supernovae are prominent sources of radioactive isotopes, the observations of which thus can help to improve our astrophysical models of those. Our understanding of stellar evolution and the final explosive endpoints…
Mass is constantly being recycled in the universe. One of the most powerful recycling paths is via stellar mass-loss. All stars exhibit mass loss with rates ranging from ~10(-14) to 10(-4) M(sun) yr-1, depending on spectral type, luminosity…
In this chapter, after a brief introduction and overview of stellar evolution, we discuss the evolution and nucleosynthesis of very massive stars (VMS: M>100 solar masses) in the context of recent stellar evolution model calculations. This…
Massive stars play a major role not only in stellar evolution but also galactic evolution theory. This is because of their dynamical interaction with binary companions, and because their strong winds and explosive deaths as supernovae…
Binary stars are of course more than two stars, but they are also at least two stars. In this chapter we will review some aspects of the physics governing the evolution of single massive stars. We will also review the uncertainties of key…
Mass loss dominates the stellar evolution on the Asymptotic Giant Branch. The phase of highest mass-loss occurs during the last 1--10\% of the AGB and includes the so-called Miras and OH/IR stars. In this review I will discuss the…
The effects of rotation on stellar evolution are particularly important at low metallicity, when mass loss by stellar winds diminishes and the surface enrichment due to rotational mixing becomes relatively more pronounced than at high…
The main effect of axial rotation on the evolution of massive PopIII stars is to trigger internal mixing processes which allow stars to produce significant amounts of primary nitrogen 14 and carbon 13. Very metal poor massive stars produce…
The Sun has been known to rotate for more than 4 centuries, and evidence is also available through direct measurements, that almost all stars rotate. In this lecture, I will propose a review of the different physical processes associated to…
Magnetic fields have been detected in most if not all types of stars across the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Where present, these fields have the potential to significantly impact the evolution of their host stars. Furthermore, they…
We launch a fully relativistic study of the formation of supermassive black holes via the collapse of supermassive stars. Here we initiate our investigation by analyzing the secular evolution of supermassive stars up to the onset of…
To what extent can pulsational instabilities resolve the mass-loss problem of massive stars? How important is pulsation in structuring and modulating the winds of these stars? What role does pulsation play in redistributing angular momentum…
A large number of massive stars are known to rotate, resulting in significant distortion and variation in surface temperature from the pole to the equator. Radiatively driven mass loss is temperature dependent, so rapid rotation produces…
The physical mechanisms that set the initial rotation rates in massive stars are a crucial unknown in current star formation theory. Observations of young, massive stars provide evidence that they form in a similar fashion to their low-mass…