Aims. Many topical astrophysical research areas, such as the properties of planet host stars, the nature of the progenitors of different types of supernovae and gamma ray bursts, and the evolution of galaxies, require complete and homogeneous sets of stellar models at different metallicities in order to be studied during the whole of cosmic history. We present here a first set of models for solar metallicity, where the effects of rotation are accounted for in a homogeneous way.Methods. We computed a grid of 48 different stellar evolutionary tracks, both rotating and non-rotating, at Z = 0.014, spanning a wide mass range from 0.8 to 120 M ⊙. For each of the stellar masses considered, electronic tables provide data for 400 stages along the evolutionary track and at each stage, a set of 43 physical data are given. These grids thus provide an extensive and detailed data basis for comparisons with the observations. The rotating models start on the zero-age main sequence (ZAMS) with a rotation rate υ ini/υ crit = 0.4. The evolution is computed until the end of the central carbon-burning phase, the early asymptotic giant branch (AGB) phase, or the core helium-flash for, respectively, the massive, intermediate, and both low and very low mass stars. The initial abundances are those deduced by Asplund and collaborators, which best fit the observed abundances of massive stars in the solar neighbourhood. We update both the opacities and nuclear reaction rates, and introduce new prescriptions for the mass-loss rates as stars approach the Eddington and/or the critical velocity. We account for both atomic diffusion and magnetic braking in our low-mass star models.Results. The present rotating models provide a good description of the average evolution of non-interacting stars. In particular, they reproduce the observed main-sequence width, the positions of the red giant and supergiant stars in the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram, the observed surface compositions and rotational velocities. Very interestingly, the enhancement of the mass loss during the red-supergiant stage, when the luminosity becomes supra-Eddington in some outer layers, help models above 15−20 M ⊙ to lose a significant part of their hydrogen envelope and evolve back into the blue part of the HR diagram. This result has interesting consequences for the blue to red supergiant ratio, the minimum mass for stars to become Wolf-Rayet stars, and the maximum initial mass of stars that explode as type II−P supernovae.

Aims.We propose the Wind of Fast Rotating Massive Stars scenario to explain the origin of the abundance anomalies observed in globular clusters.Methods.We compute and present models of fast rotating stars with initial masses between 20 and 120 for an initial metallicity Z = 0.0005 (). We discuss the nucleosynthesis in the H-burning core of these objects and present the chemical composition of their ejecta. We consider the impact of uncertainties in the relevant nuclear reaction rates.Results.Fast rotating stars reach critical velocity at the beginning of their evolution and remain near the critical limit during the rest of the main sequence and part of the He-burning phase. As a consequence they lose large amounts of material through a mechanical wind which probably leads to the formation of a slow outflowing disk. The material in this slow wind is enriched in H-burning products and presents abundance patterns similar to the chemical anomalies observed in globular cluster stars. In particular, the C, N, O, Na and Li variations are well reproduced by our model. However the rate of the has to be increased by a factor 1000 around 50 106 K in order to reproduce the amplitude of the observed Mg-Al anticorrelation. We discuss how the long-lived low-mass stars currently observed in globular clusters could have formed out of the slow wind material ejected by massive stars.

Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A) is an international journal which publishes papers on all aspects of astronomy and astrophysics

Aims. We study the impact of a subsolar metallicity on various properties of non-rotating and rotating stars, such as surface velocities and abundances, lifetimes, evolutionary tracks, and evolutionary scenarios.Methods. We provide a grid of single star models covering a mass range of 0.8 to 120 M ⊙ with an initial metallicity Z = 0.002 with and without rotation. We discuss the impact of a change in the metallicity by comparing the current tracks with models computed with exactly the same physical ingredients but with a metallicity Z = 0.014 (solar).Results. We show that the width of the main-sequence (MS) band in the upper part of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (HRD), for luminosity above log (L/L ⊙) > 5.5, is very sensitive to rotational mixing. Strong mixing significantly reduces the MS width. Here for the first time over the whole mass range, we confirm that surface enrichments are stronger at low metallicity provided that comparisons are made for equivalent initial mass, rotation, and evolutionary stage. We show that the enhancement factor due to a lowering of the metallicity (all other factors kept constant) increases when the initial mass decreases. Present models predict an upper luminosity for the red supergiants (RSG) of log (L/L ⊙) around 5.5 at Z = 0.002 in agreement with the observed upper limit of RSG in the Small Magellanic Cloud. We show that models using shear diffusion coefficient, which is calibrated to reproduce the surface enrichments observed for MS B-type stars at Z = 0.014, can also reproduce the stronger enrichments observed at low metallicity. In the framework of the present models, we discuss the factors governing the timescale of the first crossing of the Hertzsprung gap after the MS phase. We show that any process favouring a deep localisation of the H-burning shell (steep gradient at the border of the H-burning convective core, low CNO content), and/or the low opacity of the H-rich envelope favour a blue position in the HRD for the whole, or at least a significant fraction, of the core He-burning phase.