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| Paper: |
Challenges for Understanding the Evolution of Massive Stars: Rotation, Binarity, and Mergers |
| Volume: |
465, Four Decades of Massive Star Research - A Scientific Meeting in Honor of Anthony J. Moffat |
| Page: |
65 |
| Authors: |
de Mink, S. E.; Brott, I.; Cantiello, M.; Izzard, R. G.; Langer, N.; Sana, H. |
| Abstract: |
The evolutionary models of massive stars that are widely used in various branches of astronomy are still plagued by major uncertainties. In particular, the uncertainties related to mixing and mass loss are a concern as they affect massive stars during their earliest evolutionary stages and have consequences for their entire remaining life.
Two major challenges for understanding the evolution of massive stars are: (1) their strong preference for close binaries and (2) they are often found to be rapid rotators. Rotation is now a standard ingredient in evolutionary models, but consideration of the effects of interaction with a companion is often limited to cases of peculiar systems and exotic phenomena for which binarity is clear, such as X-ray binaries.
Binary interaction may leave an apparently single star behind, so disentangling effects of rotation and binarity is not straightforward. The effects of rotation and binarity interplay and lead to surprising evolutionary channels. We discuss examples of how binary interaction leads to high stellar rotation rates as a result of tides, mass transfer and mergers. |
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