Low-metallicity massive single stars with rotation. II. Predicting spectra and spectral classes of chemically-homogeneously evolving stars

TL;DR

This study predicts the spectra and spectral classes of metal-poor, chemically homogeneously evolving massive stars, called TWUIN stars, revealing their spectral evolution and potential role in cosmic reionization and explosive events.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed spectral predictions for TWUIN stars across their evolutionary stages, linking stellar evolution models with observable spectral features.

Findings

TWUIN stars show almost no emission lines during hydrogen burning

Metal lines, including nitrogen, are absent in early phases

During helium burning, lines switch to emission, with some metal lines appearing

Abstract

Context. Metal-poor massive stars are supposed to be progenitors of certain supernovae, gamma-ray bursts and compact object mergers, potentially contributing to the early epochs of the Universe with their strong ionizing radiation. However, they remain mainly theoretical as individual spectroscopic observations of such objects have rarely been carried out below the metallicity of the SMC. Aims. This work aims at exploring what our state-of-the-art theories of stellar evolution combined with those of stellar atmospheres predict about a certain type of metal-poor (0.02 Z$_{\odot}$) hot massive stars, the chemically homogeneously evolving ones, called TWUIN stars. Methods. Synthetic spectra corresponding to a broad range in masses (20-130 M$_{\odot}$) and covering several evolutionary phases from the zero-age main-sequence up to the core helium-burning stage were computed. Results. We find that TWUIN stars show almost no emission lines during most of their {core hydrogen-burning} lifetimes. Most metal lines are completely absent, including nitrogen. During their core helium-burning stage, lines switch to emission and even some metal lines (oxygen and carbon, but still almost no nitrogen) show up. Mass loss and clumping play a significant role in line-formation in later evolutionary phases, particularly during core helium-burning. Most of our spectra are classified as an early O type giant or supergiant, and we find Wolf-Rayet stars of type WO in the core helium-burning phase. Conclusions. An extremely hot, early O type star observed in a low-metallicity galaxy could be the outcome of chemically homogeneous evolution $-$ and therefore the progenitor of a long-duration gamma-ray burst or a type Ic supernova. TWUIN stars may play an important role in reionizing the Universe due to their being hot without showing prominent emission lines during the majority of their lifetimes.