Related papers: Current problems in stellar evolution
The conditions that lead to self-regulated star formation, star bursts and the formation of massive stellar clusters are discussed. Massive stars have a strong impact on their environment, especially on the evolution of dwarf galaxies which…
Optical interferometry provides us with a unique opportunity to improve our understanding of stellar structure and evolution. Through direct observation of rotationally distorted photospheres at sub-milliarcsecond scales, we are now able to…
Dwarf galaxies pose significant challenges for cosmological models. In particular, current models predict a dark matter density that is divergent at the center, in sharp contrast with observations which indicate an approximately constant…
The physics of massive stars depends (at least) on convection, mass loss by stellar winds, rotation, magnetic fields and multiplicity. We briefly discuss the impact of the first three processes on the stellar yields trying to identify some…
Turbulent motions in the interior of a star play an important role in its evolution, since they transport chemical species, thermal energy and angular momentum. Our overall goal is to construct a practical turbulent closure model for…
Our Galaxy is a complex machine in which several processes operate simultaneously: metal-poor gas is accreted, is chemically enriched by dying stars, and then drifts inwards, surrendering its angular momentum to stars; new stars are formed…
We model the evolution of the galactic bulge and of the bulges of a selected sample of external spiral galaxies, via the multiphase multizone evolution model. We address a few questions concerning the role of the bulges within galactic…
After a brief review of the observational evidences indicating how the populations of Be stars, red/blue supergiants, Wolf-Rayet stars vary as a function of metallicity, we discuss the implications of these observed trend for our…
We provide a status report on the determination of stellar ages from asteroseismology for stars of various masses and evolutionary stages. The ability to deduce the ages of stars with a relative precision of typically 10 to 20% is a unique…
Interactions between the winds of stars and the magnetospheres and atmospheres of planets involve many processes, including the acceleration of particles, heating of upper atmospheres, and a diverse range of atmospheric loss processes.…
Interstellar dust is a key physical ingredient of galaxies, obscuring star formation, regulating the heating and cooling of the gas, and building-up chemical complexity. In this manuscript, I give a wide review of interstellar dust…
Convection is the most important physical process that determines the structure of the envelopes of cool stars. It influences the surface radiation flux and the shape of observed spectral line profiles and is responsible for both generating…
This article outlines a method to interpret the extragalactic background light in terms of the large-scale, average properties of galaxies, including the comoving densities of stars and interstellar gas, metals, and dust. These quantities…
The distribution of angular momentum of planets and their host stars provides important information on the formation and evolution of the planetary system. However, mysteries still remain, partly due to bias and uncertainty of the current…
Helioseismology has provided very detailed information about the solar interior, and extensive data on a large number of stars, although at less detail, are promised by the ongoing and upcoming asteroseismic projects. In the solar case…
The importance of angular momentum in regulating the sizes of galactic disks and by this their star formation history is highlighted. Tidal torques and accretion of satellites in principle provide enough angular momentum to form disks with…
The dust in galaxies makes radiation transport calculations in them absolutely necessary. It is not only common practice in Astrophysics, but also wisdom, to try to make as simple models as possible to simulate physical systems. For spiral…
The problem of error growth due to the incomplete knowledge of the evolution law which rules the dynamics of a given physical system is addressed. Major interest is devoted to the analysis of error amplification in systems with many…
Two-dimensional models of rapidly rotating stars are already unavoidable for the interpretation of interferometric or asteroseismic data of this kind of stars. When combined with time evolution, they will allow the including of a more…
Galactic winds shape the stellar, gas, and metal content of galaxies. To quantify their impact, we must understand their physics. We review potential wind-driving mechanisms and observed wind properties, with a focus on the warm ionized and…