Stellar evolution through the Red Supergiant phase

TL;DR

This review discusses the evolution of massive stars into red supergiants, highlighting their physical characteristics, mass-loss processes, and role as progenitors of common supernovae, based on current theoretical understanding.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the theoretical understanding of the red supergiant phase in massive star evolution.

Findings

Red supergiants dominate the late evolution of stars less than ~30 Msol.

They experience significant mass loss through winds and outbursts.

RSGs are progenitors of type II supernovae.

Abstract

Massive stars less massive than ~30 Msol evolve into a red supergiant after the main sequence. Given a standard IMF, this means about 80% of all single massive stars will experience this phase. RSGs are dominated by convection, with a radius that may extend up to thousands of solar radii. Their low temperature and gravity make them prone to lose large amounts of masses, either through a pulsationally-driven wind or through mass-loss outburst. RSGs are the progenitors of the most common core-collapse supernovae, the type II. In the present review, we give an overview of our theoretical understanding about this spectacular phase of massive stars evolution.