Massive star evolution: from the early to the present day Universe

TL;DR

This paper reviews how mass loss and rotation influence the evolution of massive stars across different metallicities, highlighting their roles in stellar properties, chemical yields, and remnants.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of the effects of mass loss and rotation on massive star evolution at various metallicities, emphasizing their significance at low and high metallicities.

Findings

Rotation impacts stellar evolution most at low metallicities.

Mass loss and rotation significantly affect stellar evolution at solar metallicity.

These processes influence the chemical yields and remnants of massive stars.

Abstract

Mass loss and axial rotation are playing key roles in shaping the evolution of massive stars. They affect the tracks in the HR diagram, the lifetimes, the surface abundances, the hardness of the radiation field, the chemical yields, the presupernova status, the nature of the remnant, the mechanical energy released in the interstellar medium, etc... In this paper, after recalling a few characteristics of mass loss and rotation, we review the effects of these two processes at different metallicities. Rotation probably has its most important effects at low metallicities, while mass loss and rotation deeply affect the evolution of massive stars at solar and higher than solar metallicities.