1. Massive stars in extremely metal-poor galaxies: a window into the past
- Author
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Norberto Castro, Sergio Simón-Díaz, Fabrice Martins, Dorottya Szécsi, Ignacio Negueruela, Alexander de Koter, Jacco Th. van Loon, Selma E. de Mink, Alexander W. Fullerton, Hugues Sana, J. C. Bouret, Miriam Garcia, Frank Tramper, Jorick S. Vink, Artemio Herrero, Francisco Najarro, Mark Gieles, J. M. Bestenlehner, Aida Wofford, Chris Evans, D. J. Lennon, Miguel Cerviño, Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM), Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire Univers et Particules de Montpellier (LUPM), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Université Montpellier 2 - Sciences et Techniques (UM2)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Física Aplicada, Astrofísica Estelar (AE), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Université Montpellier 2 - Sciences et Techniques (UM2), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES), and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Université Montpellier 2 - Sciences et Techniques (UM2)-Université de Montpellier (UM)
- Subjects
DRIVEN WINDS ,01 natural sciences ,7. Clean energy ,outflows ,SYNTHESIS MODELS ,Spitzer Space Telescope ,DEPENDENCE ,Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Stars: massive ,spectrographs [Instrumentation] ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,formation [Stars] ,SUPERNOVA ,media_common ,Physics ,COSMIC cancer database ,PROGENITORS ,Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics ,Galaxies: stellar content ,CHEMICAL ABUNDANCES ,Stars: winds ,Stars: evolution ,Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Physical Sciences ,stellar content [Galaxies] ,Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics ,Stars: formation ,Metallicity ,media_common.quotation_subject ,FOS: Physical sciences ,evolution [Stars] ,Instrumentation: spectrographs ,BLUE SUPERGIANTS ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,Astronomy & Astrophysics ,Computer Science::Digital Libraries ,0103 physical sciences ,massive [Stars] ,winds, outflows [Stars] ,PRESUPERNOVA EVOLUTION ,[PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-INS-DET]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Instrumentation and Detectors [physics.ins-det] ,010306 general physics ,Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) ,Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) ,Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics ,Astronomía y Astrofísica ,Science & Technology ,LOW-METALLICITY ,Astronomy ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Galaxy ,Universe ,Stars ,STELLAR ,[SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics] ,13. Climate action ,Space and Planetary Science ,Small Magellanic Cloud ,Single point ,[PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph] - Abstract
Cosmic History has witnessed the lives and deaths of multiple generations of massive stars, all of them invigorating their host galaxies with ionizing photons, kinetic energy, fresh material and stellar-mass black holes. Ubiquitous engines as they are, Astrophysics needs a good understanding of their formation, evolution, properties and yields throughout the history of the Universe, and with decreasing metal content mimicking the environment at the earliest epochs. Ultimately, a physical model that could be extrapolated to zero metallicity would enable tackling long-standing questions such as "What did the First, very massive stars of the Universe look like?" or "What was their role in the re-ionization of the Universe?". Yet, most our knowledge of metal-poor massive stars is drawn from one single point in metallicity. Massive stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC, $\sim 1/5 Z_{\odot}$) currently serve as templates for low-metallicity objects in the early Universe, even though significant differences with respect to massive stars with poorer metal content have been reported. This White Paper summarizes the current knowledge on extremely (sub-SMC) metal poor massive stars, highlighting the most outstanding open questions and the need to supersede the SMC as standard. A new paradigm can be built from nearby extremely metal-poor galaxies that make a new metallicity ladder, but massive stars in these galaxies are out of reach to current observational facilities. Such task would require an L-size mission, consisting of a 10m-class space telescope operating in the optical and the ultraviolet ranges. Alternatively, we propose that ESA unites efforts with NASA to make the LUVOIR mission concept a reality, thus continuing the successful partnership that made Hubble Space Telescope one of the greatest observatories of all time., Comment: A white paper submitted for the Voyage 2050 long-term plan in the ESA Science Programme. 21 pages, 1 table, 6 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1903.05235
- Published
- 2021
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