The most massive stars provide an essential source of recycled material for young clusters and galaxies. While very massive stars (VMS, M > 100M$_{\odot}$) are relatively rare compared to O stars, they lose disproportionately large amounts of mass already from the onset of core H-burning. In this talk, I will discuss the impact of stellar wind yields from VMS, calculated for a wide range of...
Carbon-oxygen (C-O) shell interactions in the late evolutionary stages of massive stars play a crucial role in determining their final fate and have a significant impact on the pre-supernova and explosive nucleosynthesis. In this talk, I will explore the complex dynamics within C-O shells, and how these interactions drive the production of intermediate and heavy elements. In particular I will...
Asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars are evolved stars born with a low mass of about 1-8M⊙, depending on their metallicity. These stars are vital to the chemical enrichment of the universe as they synthesise and eject significant amounts of carbon, nitrogen, fluorine, and about half of the material heavier than iron through the slow neutron capture process. However, one aspect often overlooked...
In 2017 the first neutron star merger was observed at LIGO, and for a neutron star binary system to merge within a hubble time the progenitor system must undergo a common envelope phase to dissipate the orbital energy and bring the two compact masses closer together [1]. During the common envelope phase the compact neutron star orbits within the envelope of the companion star and accretes...
