The impact of realistic red supergiant mass-loss on stellar evolution

TL;DR

This study examines how a new, more accurate mass-loss prescription for red supergiants affects stellar evolution models, revealing significant impacts on envelope mass at core-collapse and implications for supernova observations.

Contribution

It introduces a revised mass-loss rate for RSGs that avoids overestimation in massive stars and assesses its effects on stellar evolution and supernova progenitor characteristics.

Findings

Increased H-rich envelope mass at core-collapse with the new prescription.

Evolutionary tracks in HR diagram remain similar despite mass-loss changes.

Potential to estimate progenitor mass from supernova light curves based on H-envelope mass.

Abstract

Accurate mass-loss rates are essential for meaningful stellar evolutionary models. For massive single stars with initial masses between 8 - 30\msun the implementation of cool supergiant mass loss in stellar models strongly affects the resulting evolution, and the most commonly used prescription for these cool-star phases is that of de Jager. Recently, we published a new \mdot\ prescription calibrated to RSGs with initial masses between 10 - 25\msun, which unlike previous prescriptions does not over estimate \mdot\ for the most massive stars. Here, we carry out a comparative study to the MESA-MIST models, in which we test the effect of altering mass-loss by recomputing the evolution of stars with masses 12-27\msun\ with the new \mdot-prescription implemented. We show that while the evolutionary tracks in the HR diagram of the stars do not change appreciably, the mass of the H-rich envelope at core-collapse is drastically increased compared to models using the de Jager prescription. This increased envelope mass would have a strong impact on the Type II-P SN lightcurve, and would not allow stars under 30\msun\ to evolve back to the blue and explode as H-poor SN. We also predict that the amount of H-envelope around single stars at explosion should be correlated with initial mass, and we discuss the prospects of using this as a method of determining progenitor masses from supernova light curves.