Related papers: Super-massive stars: Dense star-gas systems
In these lectures I review observations of star-forming molecular clouds in our Galaxy and nearby galaxies to develop a physical intuition for understanding star formation in the local and high-redshift Universe. A lot of this material is…
Massive stars play an important role in the Universe. Unlike low-mass stars, the formation of these objects located at great distances is still unclear. It is expected to be governed by some combination of self-gravity, turbulence, and…
I review multiwavelength observations of material seen around different types of evolved massive stars (i.e. red supergiants, yellow hypergiants, luminous blue variables, B[e] supergiants, and Wolf-Rayet stars), concentrating on diagnostics…
Supermassive disks are outstanding galaxies whose formation and evolution are still poorly understood. They comprise a large variety of objects, ranging from large, low-surface-brightness galaxies, such as Malin 1, to the most spectacular…
The similarity between the mass and spatial distributions of pre-stellar gas cores in star-forming clouds and young stars in clusters provides strong circumstantial evidence that these gas cores are the direct progenitors of individual…
We discuss the various post-main sequence phases of massive stars, focusing on Wolf-Rayet stars, Luminous Blue Variables, plus connections with other early-type and late-type supergiants. End states for massive stars are also investigated,…
We have assembled a sample of 5 X-ray and submm-luminous z~2 QSOs which are therefore both growing their central black holes through accretion and forming stars copiously at a critical epoch. Hence, they are good laboratories to investigate…
When and how did galaxies form and their metals accumulate? Over the last decade, this has moved from an archeological question to a live investigation: there is now a broad picture of the evolution of galaxies in dark matter halos: their…
Understanding the relationship between the formation and evolution of galaxies and their central super massive black holes (SMBH) is one of the main topics in extragalactic astrophysics. Links and feedback may reciprocally affect both black…
Observations of the high redshift Universe, interpreted in the context of a new generation of computer simulated model Universes, are providing new insights into the processes by which galaxies and quasars form and evolve, as well as the…
Molecules and dust are formed in and around the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and supernovae (SNe), and are ejected into the interstellar medium (ISM) through the stellar wind. The dust and gas contain elements newly synthesised in…
Analytical models of chemical evolution, including inflow and outflow of gas, are important tools to study how the metal content in galaxies evolves as a function of time. In this work, we present new analytical solutions for the evolution…
Black holes and neutron stars present extreme forms of matter that cannot be created as such in a laboratory on Earth. Instead, we have to observe and analyze the experiments that are ongoing in the Universe. The most telling observations…
Massive stars have a strong impact on their surroundings, in particular when they produce a core-collapse supernova at the end of their evolution. In these proceedings, we review the general evolution of massive stars and their properties…
We summarize some of the compelling new scientific opportunities for understanding stars and stellar systems that can be enabled by sub-milliarcsec (sub-mas) angular resolution, UV-Optical spectral imaging observations, which can reveal the…
Our understanding of large amplitude pulsating stars and their status in stellar evolution is briefly reviewed. The paper then describes the near-infrared light curves of various asymptotic giant branch stars, concentrating on possible…
The relationship of an AGN to its host galaxy is a crucial question in the study of galaxy evolution. We perform stellar population synthesis in the central regions of galaxies of different activity levels. A large number of stellar…
Observations at long wavelengths, in the wide interval from a few to 1000 micron, are essential to study diffuse media in galaxies, including all kinds of atomic, ionic and molecular gases and dust grains. Hence they are particularly suited…
We review progress over the past decade in observations of large-scale star formation, with a focus on the interface between extragalactic and Galactic studies. Methods of measuring gas contents and star formation rates are discussed, and…
We explore the impact of diffusive cosmic rays (CRs) on the evolution of the interstellar medium (ISM) under varying assumptions of supernova explosion environment. In practice, we systematically vary the relative fractions of supernovae…