Some useful developments in the model physics are briefly presented, followed by model results on chemical enrichments and WR stars. We discuss the expected rotation velocities of WR stars. We emphasize that the (C+O)/He ratio is a better chemical indicator of evolution for WC stars than the C/He ratios. With or without rotation, at a given luminosity the (C+O)/He ratios should be higher in regions of lower metallicity Z. Also, for a given (C+O)/He ratio the WC stars in lower Z regions have higher luminosities. The WO stars, which are likely the progenitors of supernovae SNIc and of some GRBs, should preferentially be found in regions of low Z and be the descendants of very high initial masses. Finally, we emphasize the physical reasons why massive rotating low Z stars may also experience heavy mass loss.

Young O stars are strong, hard, and variable X-ray sources; properties that strongly affect their circumstellar and galactic environments. After ≈ 1 Myr, these stars settle down to become steady sources of soft X-rays. I will use high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy and MHD modeling to show that young O stars like θ1 Ori C are well explained by the magnetically channeled wind shock scenario. After their magnetic fields dissipate, older O stars produce X-rays via shock heating in their unstable stellar winds. Here too I will use X-ray spectroscopy and numerical modeling to confirm this scenario. In addition to elucidating the nature and cause of the O star X-ray emission, modeling of the high-resolution X-ray spectra of O supergiants provides strong evidence that mass-loss rates of these O stars have been overestimated.

In this review, the physical and wind properties of OB-stars are discussed, with particular emphasis on metallicity dependence and recent results from the flames survey of massive stars. We summarize the relation between spectral type and Teff, discuss the status quo of the “mass-discrepancy”, refer to the problem of “macro-turbulence” and comment on the distribution of rotational velocities. Observational constraints on the efficiency of rotational mixing are presented, and magnetic field measurements summarized. Wind properties are reviewed, and problems related to weak winds and wind-clumping highlighted.

We report on a comprehensive study of the wind properties of 115 O- and early B-type stars in the Galaxy and the Large Magellanic Clouds. This work is part of the VLT/FLAMES Survey of Massive Stars. The data is used to construct the empirical dependence of the mass-loss in stellar winds on the metal content of their atmospheres. The metal content of early-type stars in the Magellanic Clouds is discussed. Assuming a power-law dependence of mass loss on metal content, Ṁ ∝ Zm, we find m = 0.83 ± 0.16 from an analysis of the wind momentum luminosity relation (Mokiem et al. 2007b). This result is in good agreement with the prediction m = 0.69 ± 0.10 by Vink et al. (2001). Though the scaling agrees, the absolute empirical value of mass loss is found to be a factor of two higher than predictions. This may be explained by a modest amount of clumping in the outflows of the objects studied.

A review of recent progress relating to Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars is presented. Topics include improved Milky Way statistics from near-IR surveys, different flavours of hydrogen-rich and hydrogen-poor WN stars, WR masses from binary orbits, plus spectroscopic analysis of WR stars resulting in stellar temperatures, luminosities, ionizing fluxes, plus wind properties accounting for clumping. Chemical abundances of WN and WC stars are presented, including a discussion of neon abundances in WC and WO stars from Spitzer observations. Empirical evidence supporting metallicity-dependent winds is also presented, including its effect on subtype distributions in different environments. Finally, difficulties in comparisons between evolutionary models and observations are highlighted, plus outstanding issues with predictions from continuous star formation and instantaneous bursts in the Milky Way,

We present a parameter study of WR-type mass loss, based on the PoWR hydrodynamic model atmospheres. These new models imply that optically thick WR-type winds are generally formed close to the Eddington limit. This is demonstrated for the case of hydrogen rich WNL stars, which turn out to be extremely massive, luminous stars with progenitor masses above ≈ 80 M⊙. We investigate the dependence of WR-type mass loss on various stellar parameters, including the metallicity Z. The results depend strongly on the L/M ratio, the stellar temperature T*, and the assumed wind clumping. For high L/M ratios, strong WR-type winds can be maintained down to very low Z. Even for primordial massive stars we predict considerable mass loss if their surfaces are self-enriched by primary elements.

During the course of their evolution, massive stars lose a substantial fraction of their initial mass, both through steady winds and through relatively brief eruptions during their Luminous Blue Variable (LBV) phase. This talk reviews the dynamical driving of this mass loss, contrasting the line-driving of steady winds to the potential role of continuum driving for eruptions during LBV episodes when the star exceeds the Eddington limit. A key theme is to emphasize the inherent limits that self-shadowing places on line-driven mass loss rates, whereas continuum driving can in principle drive mass up to the “photon-tiring” limit, for which the energy to lift the wind becomes equal to the stellar luminosity. We review how the “porosity” of a highly clumped atmosphere can regulate continuum-driven mass loss, but also discuss recent time-dependent simulations of how base mass flux that exceeds the tiring limit can lead to flow stagnation and a complex, time-dependent combination of inflow and outflow regions. A general result is thus that porosity-mediated continuum driving in super-Eddington phases can explain the large, near tiring-limit mass loss inferred for LBV giant eruptions.

Luminous blue variables (LBVs) are characterized by semi-periodic episodes of enhanced mass-loss, or outburst. The cause of these outbursts has thus far been a mystery. One explanation is that they are initiated by κ-effect pulsations in the atmosphere caused by a blocking of luminosity at temperatures near the so-called “iron bump” (T ~ 200,000 K), where the Fe opacity suddenly increases and blocks the luminosity. Due to a lag in the onset of convection, the luminosity can build until it exceeds the Eddington limit locally, seeding pulsations and possibly driving some mass from the star. We present preliminary results from a parameter study focusing on the conditions necessary to trigger normal S-Dor type (as opposed to extreme η-Car type) outbursts. We find that as Y increases or Z decreases, the pulsational amplitude decreases and outburst-like behavior, indicated by a large, sudden increase in photospheric velocity, becomes less likely.

The standard theory of radiation driven winds has provided a useful framework to understand stellar winds arising from massive stars (O stars, Wolf-Rayet stars, and luminous blue variables). However, with new diagnostics, and advances in spectral modeling, deficiencies in our understanding of stellar winds have been thrust to the forefront of our research efforts. Spectroscopic observations and analyses have shown the importance of inhomogeneities in stellar winds, and revealed that there are fundamental discrepancies between predicted and theoretical mass-loss rates. For late O stars, spectroscopic analyses derive mass-loss rates significantly lower than predicted. For all O stars, observed X-ray fluxes are difficult to reproduce using standard shock theory, while observed X-ray profiles indicate lower mass-loss rates, the potential importance of porosity effects, and an origin surprisingly close to the stellar photosphere. In O stars with weak winds, X-rays play a crucial role in determining the ionization balance, and must be taken into account.

Red supergiants (RSGs) are an evolved stage in the life of intermediate massive stars (≤ 25 M⊙). For many years, their location in the H-R diagram was at variance with the evolutionary models. Using the MARCS stellar atmospheres, we have determined new effective temperatures and bolometric luminosities for RSGs in the Milky Way, LMC, and SMC, and our work has resulted in much better agreement with the evolutionary models. We have also found evidence of significant visual extinction due to circumstellar dust. Although in the Milky Way the RSGs contribute only a small fraction (< 1%) of the dust to the interstellar medium (ISM), in starburst galaxies or galaxies at large look-back times, we expect that RSGs may be the main dust source. We are in the process of extending this work now to RSGs of higher and lower metallicities using the galaxies M31 and WLM.

The evolved cool stars near the empirical upper luminosity boundary in the HR Diagram all show evidence for considerable instability perhaps due to their proximity to this stability limit and/or their evolutionary state. Recent high resolution imaging and spectroscopy of several of these stars have revealed a subset characterized by complex ejecta and evidence for episodic mass loss driven by convective activity and magnetic fields. This group includes famous stars such as the red supergiants VY CMa, NML Cyg and the post RSG IRC +10420. I will review the observational evidence and discuss the implications for the final stages of these evolved stars, their mass loss mechanism, and evolutionary state.

As with all binaries, those that contain massive stars reveal various degrees of interaction, depending mainly on orbital separation and age, although things happen much faster in massive binaries. Those massive binaries with initial periods exceeding ~10 years generally only interact via wind-wind collisions, with little or no effect on their subsequent evolution (unless located in dense clusters). Shorter-period systems show even stronger wind-wind collisions as a rule, but also interact more directly via Roche Lobe Overflow or Common Envelope, with dramatic effects on their evolution. If we didn't have binaries among massive stars, we would be missing a whole host of interesting phenomena in the Universe, such as sources of enhanced stellar X-ray or non-thermal radio emission, WR dust-spirals, inverse mass-ratios, very rapid spin, rejuvenation and massive blue-stragglers, enhanced cluster dynamics, many runaways and possibly even SMBHs and GRBs! On the other hand, non(or little)-interacting massive binaries are also useful to provide information on Star-Formation processes and determination of stellar parameters (such as the mass) that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to obtain from single stars. In this review, I highlight some of the developments that have occurred during the past few years since the last IAU Symposium on Massive Stars in 2002.

We study colliding winds in the superluminous binary η Carinae by performing three-dimensional, Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations. For simplicity, we assume both winds to be isothermal. We also assume that wind particles coast without any net external forces. We find that the lower density, faster wind from the secondary carves out a spiral cavity in the higher density, slower wind from the primary. Because of the phase-dependent orbital motion, the cavity is very thin on the periastron side, whereas it occupies a large volume on the apastron side. The model X-ray light curve using the simulated density structure fits very well with the observed light curve for a viewing angle of i = 54° and φ = 36°, where i is the inclination angle and φ is the azimuth from apastron.

The most recent stellar models have shown that the faster a massive star spins, the more its nuclear yields, mass-loss rate and lifetime are different from the standard model. One thus needs to know the rotation rate of massive stars to trace their evolutionary tracks adequately. In Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars, the direct measurement of the rotational velocity is impossible, since their continuum emission is formed in the dense wind that hides the hydrostatic, stellar surface. Here, we present a technique to derive the rotation rates of WR stars from a periodic wind phenomenon, the corotating interaction regions (CIR). For five WR stars, a first estimate of the rotation rates has been deduced from the CIR periods.

New constraints on stellar models are provided by large surveys of massive stars, interferometric observations and asteroseismology. After a review of the main results so far obtained, we present new results from rotating models and discuss comparisons with observed features. We conclude that rotation is a key feature of massive star physics.

We investigate whether angular momentum transport due to unstable pulsation modes can play a significant role in the rotational evolution of massive stars. We find that these modes can redistribute appreciable angular momentum, and moreover trigger shear-instability mixing in the molecular weight gradient zone adjacent to stellar cores, with significant evolutionary impact.

We review the role of rotation in massive close binary systems. Rotation has been advocated as an essential ingredient in massive single star models. However, rotation clearly is most important in massive binaries where one star accretes matter from a close companion, as the resulting spin-up drives the accretor towards critical rotation. Here, we explore our understanding of this process, and its observable consequences. When accounting for these consequences, the question remains whether rotational effects in massive single stars are still needed to explain the observations.

We have calculated a large set of detailed binary models and used them to test the observed stellar population ratios that compare the relative populations of blue supergiants, red supergiants and Wolf-Rayet stars at different metallicities. We have also used our models to estimate the relative rate of type Ib/c to type II supernovae. We find, with an interacting binary fraction of about two thirds, that we obtain better agreement between our models and observations than with single stars. We discuss the use of models in determining the nature of supernova progenitors and show the surprising result that many type Ib/c supernova progenitors are less luminous and less massive in our models than the observed population of Wolf-Rayet stars.

An emerging conclusion of theoretical supernova research is that the breaking of spherical symmetry may be the key to the elusive mechanism of explosion. Such explorations require state-of-the-art multi-dimensional numerical tools and significant computational resources. Despite the thousands of man-years and thousands of CPU-years devoted to date to studying the supernova mystery, both require further evolution. There are many computationally-challenging instabilities in the core, before, during, and after the launch of the shock, and a variety of multi-dimensional mechanisms are now being actively explored. These include the neutrino heating mechanism, the MHD jet mechanism, and an acoustic mechanism. The latter is the most controversial, and, as with all the contenders, requires detailed testing and scrutiny. In this paper, we analyze recent attempts to do so, and suggests methods to improve them.

I discuss observational clues concerning episodic mass-loss properties of massive stars in the time before the final supernova explosion. In particular, I will focus on the mounting evidence that LBVs and related stars are candidates for supernova progenitors, even though current paradigms place them at the end of core-H burning. Namely, conditions in the immediate circumstellar environment within a few 102 AU of Type IIn supernovae require very high progenitor mass-loss rates. Those rates are so high that the only known stars that come close are LBVs during rare giant eruptions. I will highlight evidence from observations of some recent extraordinary supernovae suggesting that explosive or episodic mass loss (a.k.a. LBV eruptions like the 19th century eruption of Eta Car) occur in the 5-10 years immediately preceding the SN. Finally, I will discuss some implications for stellar evolution from these SNe, the most important of which is the observational fact that the most massive stars can indeed make it to the ends of their lives with substantial H envelopes intact, even at Solar metallicity.