Related papers: The hydrogen clock to infer the upper stellar mass
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…
The most massive stars provide an essential source of recycled material for young clusters and galaxies. While very massive stars (VMS, M>100M) are relatively rare compared to O stars, they lose disproportionately large amounts of mass…
Stars with masses in excess of 100 Msun are observed in the Local Universe, but they remain rare objects. Because of the shape of the mass function, they are expected to be present only in the most massive and youngest clusters. They may…
One of the key questions in Astrophysics concerns the issue of whether there exists an upper-mass limit to stars, and if so, what physical mechanism sets this limit, which might also determine if the upper-mass limit is metallicity (Z)…
Mass loss governs the evolution of massive stars and shapes the stellar surroundings. To quantify the impact of the stellar winds we need to know the exact mass-loss rates; however, empirical constraints on the rates are hampered by limited…
The evolution and fate of very massive stars (VMS) is tightly connected to their mass-loss properties. Their initial and final masses differ significantly as a result of mass loss. VMS have strong stellar winds and extremely high ionising…
Stellar evolution models of massive stars are very sensitive to the adopted mass-loss scheme. The magnitude and evolution of mass-loss rates significantly affect the main sequence evolution, and the properties of post-main sequence objects,…
Some studies have claimed the existence of a stellar upper-mass limit of 150 Msun. A factor that is often overlooked concerns the issue that there might be a significant difference between the present-day and the initial mass of the most…
Massive stars lose a large fraction of their mass to radiation-driven winds throughout their entire life. These outflows impact both the life and death of these stars and their surroundings. Theoretical mass-loss rates of hot, massive stars…
Recent studies of high-redshift galaxies using JWST, such as GN-z11 revealed highly elevated levels of nitrogen (N). This phenomenon extends to gravitationally-lensed galaxies like the Sunburst Arc at z = 2.37, as well as to globular…
The chemical enrichment of the Universe; the mass spectrum of planetary nebulae, white dwarfs and gravitational wave progenitors; the frequency distribution of Type I and II supernovae; the fate of exoplanets ... a multitude of phenomena…
Context: Starbursts, and particularly their high-mass stars, play an essential role in the evolution of galaxies. The winds of massive stars not only significantly influence their surroundings, but the mass loss also profoundly affects the…
The present paper reviews massive star (initial mass smaller than 120 M0) and very massive star (initial mass larger than 120 M0) evolution. I will focus on evolutionary facts and questions that may critically affect predictions of…
Mass loss due to line-driven winds is central to our understanding of the evolution of massive stars. We extend the evolution models introduced in Paper I, where the mass loss recipe is based on the simultaneous calculation of the wind…
The first stars are assumed to be predominantly massive. Although, due to the low initial abundances of heavy elements the line-driven stellar winds are supposed to be inefficient in the first stars, these stars may loose a significant…
[Abridged] Context: Radiation-driven mass loss plays a key role in the life-cycles of massive stars. However, basic predictions of such mass loss still suffer from significant quantitative uncertainties. Aims: We develop new…
Very massive stars (VMS) dominate the physics of young clusters due to their ionising radiation and extreme stellar winds. It is these winds that determine their lifepaths until expiration. Observations in the Arches cluster show that VMS…
The identification of stellar-mass black-hole mergers with up to 80 Msun as powerful sources of gravitational wave radiation led to increased interest in the physics of the most massive stars. The largest sample of possible progenitors of…
Extreme helium stars are very rare low-mass supergiants in a late stage of evolution. They are probably contracting to become white dwarfs following a violent phase of evolution which caused them to become hydrogen-deficient giants,…
The winds of massive stars remove a significant fraction of their mass, strongly impacting their evolution. As a star evolves, the rate at which it loses mass changes. In stellar evolution codes, different mass-loss recipes are employed for…