Related papers: Why Do Stars Turn Red? I. Post-Main-Sequence Expan…
We investigate the evolution of the surface properties of models for rotating massive stars, i.e., their luminosities, effective temperatures, surface rotational velocities, and surface abundances of all isotopes, from the zero age main…
Red giants are evolved stars that have exhausted the supply of hydrogen in their cores and instead burn hydrogen in a surrounding shell. Once a red giant is sufficiently evolved, the helium in the core also undergoes fusion. Outstanding…
We present the preliminary results of a detailed theoretical investigation on the hydrodynamical properties of Red Supergiant (RSG) stars at solar chemical composition and for stellar masses ranging from 10 to 20 M_sun. We find that the…
Context : We still do not know which mechanisms are responsible for the transport of angular momentum inside stars. The recent detection of mixed modes that contain the signature of rotation in the spectra of Kepler subgiants and red giants…
We suggest that the vigorous core convection during core helium flash on the tip of the red giant branch (RGB) of low mass stars excites waves that carry energy to the envelope and inflate it for few years to increase the number of extreme…
The formation of stars from gas drives the evolution of galaxies. Yet, it remains one of the hardest processes to understand when trying to connect observations of stellar and galaxy populations to models of large scale structure formation.…
We present the atmospheric structure and the fundamental parameters of three red supergiants, increasing the sample of RSGs observed by near-infrared spectro-interferometry. Additionally, we test possible mechanisms that may explain the…
The fraction of low-mass (LM) stars (M <= 1.5 Msun) showing photospheric activity in their light curve is larger on the horizontal branch (HB) than during the previous red giant branch (RGB) phase, while the opposite trend has been observed…
We suggest that the gap observed at 20,000 K in the horizontal branches of several Galactic globular clusters is caused by a small amount of extra mass loss which occurs when stars start to "peel off" the red giant branch (RGB), i.e., when…
The activity of massive stars approaching core-collapse can strongly affect the appearance of the star and its subsequent supernova. Late-phase convective nuclear burning generates waves that propagate toward the stellar surface, heating…
It has been known for a long time that some red giants in globular clusters exhibit large star-to-star variations in the abundances of light elements that are not exhibited by field giants. This fact can be taken as evidence that the extra…
Mass-loss rates are one of the most relevant parameters determining the evolution of massive stars. In particular, the rates at which the star loses mass during the red-supergiant (RSG) phase is the least constrained by the observations or…
A star expands to become a red giant when it has fused all the hydrogen in its core into helium. If the star is in a binary system, its envelope can overflow onto its companion or be ejected into space, leaving a hot core and potentially…
We show that the evolutionary track of a low-mass red giant should make an extended zigzag on the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram just after the bump luminosity, if fast internal rotation and enhanced extra mixing in the radiative zone bring the…
We discuss and illustrate contributions that optical interferometry has made on our current understanding of cool evolved stars. We include red giant branch (RGB) stars, asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, and red supergiants (RSGs).…
I discuss recent new models of post-Asymptotic Giant Branch stellar evolution. These models aim to clarify the evolutionary origin and status of a variety of hydrogen-deficient post-AGB stars such as central stars of planetary nebulae of…
Tens of thousands of red giant stars in the Kepler data exhibit solar-like oscillations. Their oscillations enable us to study the internal physics from core to surface, such as differential rotation. However, envelope rotation rates have…
The physical structures of the outer atmospheres of red giants are not known. They are certainly complex and a range of recent observations are showing that we need to embrace to non-classical atmosphere models to interpret these regions.…
From its surface properties it can be difficult to determine whether a red-giant star is in its helium-core-burning phase or only burning hydrogen in a shell around an inert helium core. Stars in either of these stages can have similar…
We summarize the present status of the predictions of massive star models for the evolution of their surface properties. After discussing luminosity, temperature and chemical composition, we focus on the question whether massive stars may…