Evolution of Massive Stars along the Cosmic History

Abstract

Massive stars are "cosmic engines" (cf the title of the IAU Symposium 250). They drive the photometric and chemical evolution of galaxies, inject energy and momentum through stellar winds and supernova explosions, they modify in this way the physical state of the interstellar gas and have an impact on star formation. The evolution of massive stars depends sensitively on the metallicity which has an impact on the intensity of the line driven stellar winds and on rotational mixing. We can distinguish four metallicity regimes: 1.- the Pop III regime $0\le Z<\sim 10^{-10}$; 2.- The low metallicity regime $10^{-10}\le Z<0.001$; 3.- The near solar metallicity regime $0.001\le Z<0.020$; 4.- The high metallicity regime $0.020\le Z$. In each of these metallicity ranges, some specific physical processes occur. In this review we shall discuss these physical processes and their consequences for nucleosynthesis and the massive star populations in galaxies. We shall mainly focus on the effects of axial rotation and mass loss by line driven winds, although of course other processes like binarity, magnetic fields, transport processes by internal waves may also play important roles.

32 pages, 13 figures, Reviews in Modern Astronomy", volume 21, proceedings JENAM 2008, Vienna

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• Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA): Binaries, Pulsations, and Explosions
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