Related papers: Massive Star Evolution Through the Ages
Massive stars less massive than ~30 Msol evolve into a red supergiant after the main sequence. Given a standard IMF, this means about 80% of all single massive stars will experience this phase. RSGs are dominated by convection, with a…
We perform a large set of radiation hydrodynamics simulations of primordial star formation in a fully cosmological context. Our statistical sample of 100 First Stars show that the first generation of stars have a wide mass distribution…
Thanks to their usefulness in various fields of astrophysics (e.g. mixing processes in stars, chemical evolution of galaxies), the last few years have witnessed a large increase in the amount of abundance data for early-type stars. Two…
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…
Massive stars play a major role in the evolution of their host galaxies, and serve as important probes of the distant Universe. It has been established that the majority of massive stars reside in close binaries and will interact with their…
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 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,…
The first stars were key drivers of early cosmic evolution. We review the main physical elements of the current consensus view, positing that the first stars were predominantly very massive. We continue with a discussion of important open…
While the modern stellar IMF shows a rapid decline with increasing mass, theoretical investigations suggest that very massive stars (>100 solar masses) may have been abundant in the early universe. Other calculations also indicate that,…
The formation of the first generations of stars at redshifts z > 15-20 signaled the transition from the simple initial state of the universe to one of increasing complexity. We here review recent progress in understanding the assembly…
Cloud environment is thought to play a critical role in determining the mechanism of formation of massive stars. In this contribution we review the physical characteristics of the environment around recently formed massive stars. Particular…
Our current understanding of the chemical evolution of the Universe is that a first generation of stars was formed out of primordial material, completely devoid of metals (Pop III stars). This first population of stars comprised massive…
A few topics concerning the early chemical evolution of the Milky Way are critically discussed. In particular, it is argued that: 1) Observed abundance patterns of extremely metal poor stars (of Pop. II) do not constrain the mass range of…
Mass loss and variability are two linked, fundamental properties of evolved stars. In this paper I review our current understanding of these processes, with a particular focus on how observations and models are used to constrain reliable…
Pop III stars are the key to the character of primeval galaxies, the first heavy elements, the onset of cosmological reionization, and the seeds of supermassive black holes. Unfortunately, in spite of their increasing sophistication,…
Rotation plays a major role in the evolution of massive stars. A revised grid of stellar evolutionary tracks accounting for rotation has recently been released by the Geneva group and implemented into the Starburst99 evolutionary synthesis…
Galaxies cover a wide range of masses and star formation histories. In this review, I summarize some of the evolutionary key features of common galaxy types. At the high-mass end, very rapid, efficient early star formation is observed,…
The many peculiarities of Ap stars (not only chemical ones, but also magnetic field and slow rotation) may vary during the main-sequence evolution of these stars. We review here briefly the evidences found in the last thirty years for such…
Population III (or Pop. III) stars, the first stellar generation built up from metal-free primordial gas, first started to form at redshifts z ~ 30. They formed primarily in small dark matter halos with masses of a few million solar masses.…
Massive stars are linked with diverse astronomical processes and objects including star formation, supernovae and their remnants, cosmic rays, interstellar media, and galaxy evolution. Understanding their properties is of primary importance…