Related papers: Very massive stars, pair-instability supernovae an…
Very massive stars (VMS) up to 200-300 $M_\odot$ have been found in the Local Universe. If they would lose little mass they produce intermediate-mass black holes or pair-instability supernovae (PISNe). Until now, VMS modellers have…
Very massive stars (VMSs, $M_{\star}$ $\geq$ 100 M$_{\odot}$) play a crucial role in several astrophysical processes. At low metallicity, they might collapse directly into black holes, or end their lives as pair-instability supernovae.…
The mass spectrum of stellar-mass black holes (BHs) is highly uncertain. Dynamical mass measurements are available only for few ($\sim{}10$) BHs in X-ray binaries, while theoretical models strongly depend on the hydrodynamics of supernova…
We investigate the impact of stellar rotation on the formation of black holes (BHs), by means of our population-synthesis code SEVN. Rotation affects the mass function of BHs in several ways. In massive metal-poor stars, fast rotation…
Very massive stars (VMS) play a fundamental role in astrophysics due to their winds and supernovae (SN), and their role as massive black hole (BH) progenitors. However, their origin and evolution remain a significant challenge. Recent…
A population of binary black hole mergers has now been observed in gravitational waves by Advanced LIGO and Virgo. The masses of these black holes appear to show evidence for a pile-up between $30$--$45$ $M_\odot$ and a cut-off above $\sim…
The groundbreaking detection of gravitational waves produced by the inspiralling and coalescence of the black hole (BH) binary GW150914 confirms the existence of "heavy" stellar-mass BHs with masses >25 Msun. Initial modelling of the system…
Near-solar metallicity (and low-redshift) Pair-Instability Supernova (PISN) candidates challenge stellar evolution models. Indeed, at such a metallicity, even an initially very massive star generally loses so much mass by stellar winds that…
The outcome of the formation of massive stars is an important anchor point in their evolution. It provides insight into the physics of the assembly process, and sets the conditions for stellar evolution. We characterize a population of 18…
Pair-instability and pulsational pair-instability supernovae (PPISN) have not been unambiguously observed so far. They are, however, promising candidates for the progenitors of the heaviest binary black hole (BBH) mergers detected. If these…
We investigate the effects of mass loss during the main-sequence (MS) and post-MS phases of massive star evolution on black hole (BH) birth masses. We compute solar metallicity Geneva stellar evolution models of an 85 $M_{\odot}$ star with…
Studying the formation and evolution of black hole binaries (BHBs) is essential for the interpretation of current and forthcoming gravitational wave (GW) detections. We investigate the statistics of BHBs that form from isolated binaries, by…
We present new evolutionary models of primordial very massive stars, with initial masses ranging from $100\,\mathrm{{M}_{\odot}}$ to $1000\,\mathrm{{M}_{\odot}}$, that extend from the main sequence until the onset of dynamical instability…
We recently determined the mass of the most massive star known to the date, R136a1 with a mass at birth 320 times the mass of our sun, as well as the mass of several other stars that are more massive than 150 M. Such massive stars (~150-300…
There is observational evidence that supports the existence of Very Massive Stars in the local universe. First, very massive stars (Mini<=320 M) have been observed in the Large Magellanic Cloud . Second, there are observed SNe that bear the…
In addition to being spectacular objects, Very Massive Stars (VMS) are suspected to have a tremendous impact on their environment and on the whole cosmic evolution. The nucleosynthesis both during their advanced stages and their final…
The pair instability supernova (PISN) is a common fate of very massive stars (VMSs). Current theory predicts the initial and the CO core mass ranges for PISNe of $\sim$140-260 $M_\odot$ and $\sim$65-120 $M_\odot$ respectively for stars that…
The fate of massive stars up to 300 Msun is highly uncertain. Do these objects produce pair-instability explosions, or normal Type Ic supernovae? In order to address these questions, we need to know their mass-loss rates during their lives.…
The recent discovery of high-redshift (z > 6) supermassive black holes (SMBH) favors the formation of massive seed BHs in protogalaxies. One possible scenario is formation of massive stars ~ 1e3-1e4 Msun via runaway stellar collisions in a…
Pair-instability supernovae (PISNe) have long been predicted to be the final fates of near-zero-metallicity very massive stars ($Z < Z_\odot/3$, $\mathrm{M}_\mathrm{ZAMS} \gtrsim 140 \mathrm{M}_\odot$). However, no definite PISN has been…