The enigmatic oxygen sequence Wolf-Rayet (WO) stars represent a very late stage in massive star evolution, although their exact nature is still under debate. The spectra of most of the WO stars have never been analysed through detailed modelling with a non-local thermodynamic equilibrium expanding atmosphere code. Here we present preliminary results of the first homogeneous analysis of the (apparently) single WOs.

We study spectra of two bona fide LBV stars in M31: AF And and Var 15. The spectra were obtained with the 6-m telescope (Russia) from 2005 to 2012. The model spectra were calculated with the CMFGEN code. We have not found strong changes in the spectra of the LBV stars in that time interval, however a certain variability has been detected. We estimate the star and wind parameters, such as luminosity, temperature, raduis, mass loss rate, escape velocity, hydrogen content, and reddening. We study the stars on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and find their initial masses using evolutionary tracks by Meynet et al. (1994).

One of the original Hubble-Sandage variables, Variable C in M33 is thought to be a very typical Luminous Blue Variable (LBV). An observational signature of LBVs is a variable brightness which is coupled to a change in spectral type. We compiled a 110 year long light curve of Var C and a set of spectra covering several decades. Analyzing both data sets, various astonishing changes of Var C, some very recent, emerged. Is Var C a typical or an atypical LBV?

We have developed an entirely new formulation to obtain self-gravitating, axisymmetric configurations in permanent rotation. It is based on the Lagrangian variational principle and, as a consequence, will allow us to apply it to stellar evolution calculations rather easily. We adopt a Monte Carlo technique, which is analogous to those employed in other fields, e.g. nuclear physics, in minimizing the energy functional. We also present the analogies between the study on rotating stellar configurations and the one on deformed nuclei. Possible applications are not limited to main sequence stars but will be extended to e.g. compact stars, proto-stars and planets. We believe that our formulation will be a major break-through then.

Many studies focused on very massive stars (VMS) within the framework of Pop. III stars, because this is where they were thought to be abundant. In this work, we focus on the evolution of VMS in the local universe following the discovery of VMS in the R136 cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We computed grids of VMS evolutionary tracks in the range 120–500 M⊙ with solar, LMC and Small Magellanic Cloud metallicities. All models end their lives as Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars of the WC (or WO) type. We discuss the evolution and fate of VMS around solar metallicity with particular focus on the WR phase. For example, we show that a distinctive feature that may be used to disentangle Wolf-Rayet stars originating from VMS from those originating from lower initial masses is the enhanced abundances of Ne and Mg at the surface of WC stars.

After highlighting the principle and power of asteroseismology for stellar physics, we briefly emphasize some recent progress in this research for various types of stars. We give an overview of high-precision high duty-cycle space photometry of OB-type stars. Further, we update the overview of seismic estimates of stellar parameters of OB dwarfs, with specific emphasis on convective core overshoot. We discuss connections between pulsational, rotational, and magnetic variability of massive stars and end with future prospects for asteroseismology of evolved OB stars.

Asteroseismic data obtained by the Kepler spacecraft have led to the recent detection and characterization of rotational frequency splittings of mixed modes in red-giant stars. This has opened the way to the determination of the core rotation rates for these stars, which is of prime importance to progress in our understanding of internal angular momentum transport. In this contribution, we discuss which constraints can be brought by these asteroseismic measurements on the modelling of angular momentum transport in stellar radiative zones.

We present the first systematic study of 4646 spectroscopically confirmed early-type massive stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), using variability as a tool to confine the physics of OB-type massive stars. We report the discovery of ∼100 massive eclipsing systems which are useful for the accurate determination of the fundamental parameters of massive stars and we evaluate the frequency of multiplicity. In addition, we explore the occurrence of the Oe/Be phenomenon and provide a large number of candidate non-radial pulsators, which can be further studied via asteroseismology. The results of this work (Kourniotis et al. 2014) will contribute to a better understanding of the role of metallicity in triggering processes associated to matter ejections and/or disk formation, which in turn affect mass loss and stellar rotation.

We have calculated the pulsations of massive stars using a nonlinear hydrodynamic code including time-dependent convection. The basic structure models are based on a standard grid published by Meynet et al. (1994). Using the basic structure, we calculated envelope models, which include the outer few percent of the star. These models go down to depths of at least 2 million K. These models, which range from 40 to 85 solar masses, show a range of pulsation behaviours. We find models with very long period pulsations (> 100 d), resulting in high amplitude changes in the surface properties. We also find a few models that show outburst-like behaviour. The details of this behaviour are discussed, including calculations of the resulting wind mass-loss rates.

Semi-convection is a slow mixing process in chemically-inhomogeneous radiative interiors of stars. In massive OB stars, it is important during the main sequence. However, the efficiency of this mixing mechanism is not properly gauged yet. Here, we argue that asteroseismology of β Cep pulsators is capable of distinguishing between models of varying semi-convection efficiencies. We address this in the light of upcoming high-precision space photometry to be obtained with the Kepler two-wheel mission for massive stars along the ecliptic.

A recent photometric survey in the NGC 3766 cluster led to the detection of stars presenting an unexpected variability. They lie in a region of the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram where no pulsation are theoretically expected, in between the δ Scuti and slowly pulsating B (SPB) star instability domains. Their variability periods, between ~0.1–0.7 d, are outside the expected domains of these well-known pulsators. The NCG 3766 cluster is known to host fast rotating stars. Rotation can significantly affect the pulsation properties of stars and alter their apparent luminosity through gravity darkening. Therefore we inspect if the new variable stars could correspond to fast rotating SPB stars. We carry out instability and visibility analysis of SPB pulsation modes within the frame of the traditional approximation. The effects of gravity darkening on typical SPB models are next studied. We find that at the red border of the SPB instability strip, prograde sectoral (PS) modes are preferentially excited, with periods shifted in the 0.2–0.5 d range due to the Coriolis effect. These modes are best seen when the star is seen equator-on. For such inclinations, low-mass SPB models can appear fainter due to gravity darkening and as if they were located between the δ Scuti and SPB instability strips.

Imagine we could do asteroseismology of large samples of OB-type stars by using just one spectrum per target. That would be great! But this is probably a crazy and stupid idea. Or maybe not. Maybe we have the possibility to open a new window to investigate stellar oscillations in massive stars that has been in front of us for many years, but has not attracted very much our attention: the characterization and understanding of the so-called macroturbulent broadening in OB-type stars.

Mass discrepancy is one of the problems that is pending a solution in (massive) binary star research field. The problem is often solved by introducing an additional near core mixing into evolutionary models, which brings theoretical masses of individual stellar components into an agreement with the dynamical ones. In the present study, we perform a detailed analysis of two massive binary systems, V380 Cyg and σ Sco, to provide an independent, asteroseismic measurement of the overshoot parameter, and to test state-of-the-art stellar evolution models.

We recently showed that rotation significantly affects most observable Cepheid quantities, and that rotation, in combination with the evolutionary status of the star, can resolve the long-standing Cepheid mass discrepancy problem. We therefore provide a brief overview of our results regarding the problem of Cepheid masses. We also briefly mention the impact of rotation on the Cepheid period-luminosity(-color) relation, which is crucial for determining extragalactic distances, and thus for calibrating the Hubble constant.

Tidal dissipation in stars is one of the key physical mechanisms that drive the evolution of binary and multiple stars. As in the Earth oceans, it corresponds to the resonant excitation of their eigenmodes of oscillation and their damping. Therefore, it strongly depends on the internal structure, rotation, and dissipative mechanisms in each component. In this work, we present a local analytical modeling of tidal gravito-inertial waves excited in stellar convective and radiative regions respectively. This model allows us to understand in details the properties of the resonant tidal dissipation as a function of the excitation frequencies, the rotation, the stratification, and the viscous and thermal properties of the studied fluid regions. Then, the frequencies, height, width at half-height, and number of resonances as well as the non-resonant equilibrium tide are derived analytically in asymptotic regimes that are relevant in stellar interiors. Finally, we demonstrate how viscous dissipation of tidal waves leads to a strongly erratic orbital evolution in the case of a coplanar binary system. We characterize such a non-regular dynamics as a function of the height and width of resonances, which have been previously characterized thanks to our local fluid model.

High mass and low mass stars follow a similar evolution until the inert core phase that follows the end of the core helium burning stage. In particular, one common phase of stellar evolution is the alpha capture reaction that turns carbon into oxygen in the core. We can obtain constraints on this reaction rate by studying the remnants of low mass stars, as this is the ultimate reaction that occurs in their core. We also present results that allow us to test the time dependent calculations of diffusion in dense interiors.

In B stars, the transportation of metals such as iron due to radiative levitation is thought to trigger sub-surface convection, which may lead to significant stellar pulsations through the iron-induced kappa mechanism (Pamyatnykh et al. 2004). The main goal of this work is to model the evolution of these stars by treating radiative levitation in an accurate and efficient manner in order to enable rapid asteroseismic analysis using the Opacity Project data and codes (Seaton 2005) with the GARching STellar Evolution Code (Weiss & Schlattl 2008).

Be stars are B-type stars near the main sequence which undergo episodic mass loss events detected by emission lines, whose line shape and intensity vary with a timescale of the order of decades. Spectroscopic observations show a large rotation velocity such that one of the prevailing scenarios for the formation of the equatorial disk consists in an increasing equatorial rotation velocity to the break-up limit where gravity is challenged by the centrifugal force. We investigate here a new scenario recently suggested by Ishimatsu & Shibahashi (2013), in which the transport of angular momentum through the photosphere would be achieved by leaky waves, keeping the rotation velocity still below the break-up limit.

Here we present the report on the “Nainital–Cape survey” research project aiming to search for and study the pulsational variability of main-sequence chemically peculiar (CP) stars. For this study, the time-series photometric observations of the sample stars were carried out at the 1.04 m ARIES telescope (India), while the high-resolution spectroscopic and spectro-polarimetric observations were carried out at the the 6.0 m Russian telescope. Under this project, we have recently found clear evidence of photometric variability in the Am star HD 73045, which is likely to be pulsating in nature with a period of about 36 min, hence adding a new member to the family of the δ Scuti pulsating variables that have peculiar abundances.

Stochastic gravity waves have been recently detected and characterised in stars thanks to space asteroseismology and they may play an important role in the evolution of stellar angular momentum. In this context, the observational study of the CoRoT hot Be star HD 51452 suggests a potentially strong impact of rotation on stochastic excitation of gravito-inertial waves in rapidly rotating stars. In this work, we present our results on the action of the Coriolis acceleration on stochastic wave excitation by turbulent convection. We study the change of efficiency of this mechanism as a function of the waves' Rossby number and we demonstrate that the excitation presents two different regimes for super-inertial and sub-inertial frequencies. Consequences for rapidly rotating early-type stars and the transport of angular momentum in their interiors are discussed.