The role of mass loss in chemodynamical evolution of galaxies

TL;DR

This paper reviews how mass loss influences the chemical and dynamical evolution of galaxies, highlighting recent observational and theoretical advances in understanding element origins and galaxy enrichment processes.

Contribution

It synthesizes current knowledge on the impact of stellar mass loss on galaxy evolution and discusses recent observational evidence from ALMA and JWST.

Findings

Neutron-capture processes linked to supernovae are essential for certain element abundances.

Stellar rotation affects the production of C, N, F, and isotopes in massive stars.

Observations suggest rapid chemical enrichment in distant galaxies.

Abstract

Thanks to the long-term collaborations between nuclear and astrophysics, we have good understanding on the origin of elements in the universe, except for the elements around Ti and some neutron-capture elements. From the comparison between observations of nearby stars and Galactic chemical evolution models, a rapid neutron-capture process associated with core-collapse supernovae is required. The production of C, N, F and some minor isotopes depends on the rotation of massive stars, and the observations of distant galaxies with ALMA indicate rapid cosmic enrichment. It might be hard to find very metal-poor or Population III (and dust-free) galaxies at very high redshifts even with JWST.