Heavy element contributions of rotating massive stars to Interstellar Medium

TL;DR

This study models heavy element yields from rotating massive stars, highlighting the significant roles of stellar winds and supernovae in enriching the interstellar medium, with implications for understanding chemical evolution.

Contribution

It provides new calculations of heavy element yields considering stellar rotation, metallicity, and mass, improving understanding of their contributions to the interstellar medium.

Findings

Stellar winds can produce up to several solar masses of heavy elements.

Core-collapse supernovae contribute more than stellar winds to heavy element enrichment.

Models match observed $^{56}$Ni yields for stars below 25 solar masses.

Abstract

Employing the the stellar evolution code (Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics), we calculate yields of heavy elements from massive stars via stellar wind and core-collapse supernovae (CCSN) ejecta to interstellar medium (ISM). In our models, the initial masses ($M_{\rm ini}$) of massive stars are taken from 13 to 80 $M_\odot$, their initial rotational velocities (V) are 0, 300 and 500 km s$^{-1}$, and their metallicities are [Fe/H] = -3, -2, -1, and 0. The yields of heavy elements coming from stellar winds are mainly affected by the stellar rotation which changes the chemical abundances of stellar surfaces via chemically homogeneous evolution, and enhances mass-loss rate. We estimate that the stellar wind can produce heavy element yields of about $10^{-2}$ (for low metallicity models) to several $M_\odot$ (for low metallicity and rapid rotation models) mass. The yields of heavy element produced by CCSN ejecta also depend on the remnant mass of massive mass which is mainly determined by the mass of CO-core. Our models calculate that the yields of heavy elements produced by CCSN ejecta can get up to several $M_\odot$. Compared with stellar wind, CCSN ejecta has a greater contribution to the heavy elements in ISM. We also compare the $^{56}$Ni yields by calculated in this work with observational estimate. Our models only explain the $^{56}$Ni masses produced by faint SNe or normal SNe with progenitor mass lower than about 25 $M_\odot$, and greatly underestimate the $^{56}$Ni masses produced by stars with masses higher than about 30 $M_\odot$.