Red supergiants and stellar evolution

Abstract

We review the significant role played by red supergiants (RSGs) in stellar populations, and some challenges and questions they raise for theoretical stellar evolution. We present how metallicity and rotation modify the way stars go to the red part of the Hertzsprung- Russell diagram or come back from it, and how RSGs might keep a trace of their main-sequence evolution. We compare theoretical popu- lation ratios with observed ones.

11 pages, 5 figures, Betelgeuse workshop, November 2012, Paris. To be published in the European Astronomical Society Publications Series, editors: Pierre Kervella, Thibaut Le Bertre & Guy Perrin

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• Spectral type, temperature and evolutionary stage in cool supergiants
• Evolved Massive Stars at Low-metallicity II. Red Supergiant Stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud
• Characterisation of red supergiants in the Gaia spectral range
• An atlas of cool supergiants from the Magellanic Clouds and typical interlopers. A guide for the classification of luminous red stars
• Evolved Massive Stars at Low-metallicity IV. Using 1.6 $\mu$m "H-bump" to identify red supergiant stars: a case study of NGC 6822
• Detection of new eruptions in the Magellanic Clouds LBVs R 40 and R 110
• The historical record of massive star formation in Cygnus
• A multi-wavelength analysis of the diffuse HII region G25.8700+0.1350
• {\sc precision}: A fast python pipeline for high-contrast imaging -- application to SPHERE observations of the red supergiant VX Sagitariae