We present a detailed spectroscopic analysis of the only known eclipsing high mass X-ray binary with a black hole companion, M33 X-7. We obtained the first UV spectra of the system accompanied by X-ray observations, taken at three key orbital phases. We performed a detailed analysis of X-Ray, UV, and archival optical spectra using stellar atmosphere models which shed light on the interaction of the stellar wind with the black hole. Our new analysis suggests a large reduction in component masses compared to previous results. Our one-dimensional calculations confirm that the photoionization by the X-ray radiation can significantly change the ionization structure and diminish the wind accelerations. For this system standard wind-fed accretion scenario alone cannot explain the observed X-ray luminosity, indicating an additional mass overflow towards the black hole. Our evolutionary models suggest that the system is transitioning towards a common envelope stage in which both components merge.

When low- and intermediate-mass stars pass through the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) they experience dramatic changes in their circumstellar shell (CSE) influenced by their mass loss, the possible presence of a (closeby) companion and the magnetic field. Masers, well spread in this environment, provide a powerful tool to reveal the CSE changes occurring when the stars undergo a transitional phase on the AGB. These can be indirect, via for instance the modification of the pumping conditions or a direct consequence of e.g. a companion and/or of the magnetic field. Evidences of such changes have been observed towards Miras, materialized by strong - both in intensity and degree of polarisation - (OH) flaring events and towards stars believed to be transitioning from the Mira to the OH/IR phase, showing an unusual high degree of polarisation. How OH maser emission can be used as a signpost of transitional phases along the AGB is explored.

ALMA observations with angular resolution in the range ∼20–200 mas demonstrate that emission at 268.149 and 262.898 GHz in the (0,2,0) and (0,1,0) vibrationally excited states of water are widespread in the inner envelope of O-rich AGB stars and red supergiants. These transitions are either quasi-thermally excited, in which case they can be used to estimate the molecular column density, or show signs of maser emission with a brightness temperature of ∼103–107 K in a few stars. The highest spatial resolution observations probe the inner few stellar radii environment, up to ∼10–12 R* in general, while the mid resolution data probe more thermally excited gas at larger extents. In several stars, high velocity components are observed at 268.149 GHz which may be caused by the kinematic perturbations induced by a companion. Radiative transfer models of water are revisited to specify the physical conditions leading to 268.149 and 262.898 GHz maser excitation.

MWC 656 has been reported as classical Be star with a black hole companion. Revisited spectral variability properties render this unlikely, with a hot subdwarf more probable.

The mass-loss mechanism in asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars is not yet fully understood. We present 20-milliarcsecond resolution ALMA imaging of the well-studied AGB star W Hya in multiple molecular lines at 250–269 GHz, including masers from SiO, H2O, and SO2. The images show complex plumes, arcs, and clumps over the stellar disk and in the atmosphere extending to several stellar radii. We detected prominent emission components over the stellar disk—instead of pure absorption as expected—in some Si17O, 30SiO, H2O, and SO2 lines. The surface emission seen in the Si17O and vibrationally excited H2O lines is particularly strong, indicating maser actions. The masers seen over the stellar disk indicate radial amplification.

We study the He II λ4686 emission south of multiple-star system HD 5980, which hosts two WN-type stars. We use optical VLT FORS1 long-slit spectra. The observations are close to the eclipse phase. Broad He II emission with a SNR >5 is observed as far as 7.6 pc from HD 5980. The He II emission that is closest to HD 5980 is 1.2 pc directly south and has a redshifted component with FWHM 1450 km s-1 originating in the eclipsing WN5-6 star, and a blueshifted component with FWHM 600 km s-1. The second component cannot be explained by either the nearly- eclipsed WN star or the nearby supernova remnant, SNR B0057-724. We suggest that the additional He II emission comes from the colliding winds of the two WN stars.

We report new detections of SiO ν = 1 and ν = 2 J = 1 → 0 masers in the “water fountain” source IRAS 16552-3050, which was observed with the Nobeyama 45 m telescope from March 2021 to April 2023. Water fountains are evolved stars whose H2O maser spectra trace high-velocity outflows of >100 Km s−. This is the second known case of SiO masers in a water fountain, after their prototypical source, W 43A. The line-of-sight velocity of the SiO masers are blue-shifted by ∼25 km s−1 from the systemic velocity. This velocity offset imply that the SiO masers are associated with nozzle structure formed by a jet penetrating the circumstellar envelope, and that new gas blobs of the jet erupted recently. Thus, the SiO masers imply this star to be in a new evolutionary stage.

A century of study has characterized Plaskett’s Star (HD 47129) as an evolved, massive, short-period, equal mass O+O binary system. The discovery of a magnetic field in the broad-line component by Grunhut et al. (2013) renewed interest in the study of this system and led to its establishment as the most rapidly rotating magnetic O-type star. Grunhut et al. (2021) observed the circular polarization signatures of the magnetic star to exhibit no radial velocity variations while the narrow-line star demonstrates radial velocity variations consistent with the established orbital period. This has raised fundamental questions about the architecture of this system and the nature of the magnetic star which have led to a major shift in our understanding of HD 47129.

Water Fountains (WFs), located between the AGB and PN phases of stellar evolution, may provide significant clues on the shaping process of PNe. We present new VLA observations of the WF candidates OH 16.3-3.0 and IRAS 19356+0754. We detect H2O and OH maser and radio continuum emission towards OH 16.3-3.0. We suggest that the OH maser emission of OH 16.3-3.0 is associated with an aspherical circumstellar envelope due to its spatio-kinematics and peculiar spectral profile. We could not confirm the candidates as bona fide WFs because of the narrow velocity spread (OH 16.3-3.0) or non-detection (IRAS 19356+0754) of H2O maser emission. Further monitoring could help to discern their nature.

Mergers of neutron stars and black holes are nowadays observed routinely thanks to gravitational-wave astronomy. In the isolated, binary-evolution channel, a common-envelope phase of a red supergiant and a compact object is crucial to sufficiently shrink the orbit and thereby enable a merger via gravitational-wave emission. Here, we use the outcome of three-dimensional hydrodynamic common-envelope simulations of a 9.4 solar mass red supergiant and a 5 solar mass black-hole to explore the further evolution and final fate of the remnant binary. The binary system undergoes another phase of mass transfer during which it is visible as an X-ray binary. We find that the donor star does not explode as an ultra-stripped supernova because of the large remaining envelope mass, but as a Type Ib/c supernova. Supernova kicks are actually required to sufficiently perturb the orbit and thus facilitate a merger within a Hubble time via gravitational-wave emission.

Rotation plays an important role in the structure and evolution of massive stars. It leads to deviation from spherical symmetry for very fast rotating stars, mixing in otherwise unmixed radiative regions and generally increased mass loss. In addition, magnetic fields interact with rotation and lead to significant transport of angular momentum. In this article, we review the various rotational and magnetic instabilities present in massive stars and their implementation in one-dimensional stellar evolution codes. We then focus on their impact on the evolution of single rotating stars. Finally, we compare rotating models to observations and discuss ways to disentangle between various uncertainties.

Binary/multiple stellar systems are as abundant as single stars. They are very interesting cosmic laboratories as they are related to many astrophysical phenomena. In the case of AGB (and post-AGB) stars, binaries are the most likely explanation for the shaping of non spherical PNe, a long standing problem in stellar evolution. While many binaries are known in the PNe phase, there are few examples in the previous AGB phase. Hydrodynamical models of the binary interaction are available, but well known parameters for orbits are non-existent. We observed the AGB binary system R Aqr at 7 mm using the Global VLBI array in wide-band continuum and SiO masers. The strong SiO masers were used to self-calibrate the observations and pinpoint the location of the AGB component. We used the continuum to try to directly detect the WD companion or its close environments (non-thermal emission from accretion disks/jets). We present our preliminary results for R Aqr on the relative positions of the J=1−0 SiO masers (v=1) with respect to the white dwarf position. This opens a new way to determine orbits in binaries at the AGB phase and better study their role in late stellar evolution and PNe shaping.

The database of circumstellar OH masers by Engels & Bunzel (2015) was updated to include new 1612, 1665, and 1667 MHz OH maser observations published between 2015 and 2022. A cross-correlation of the database was made with infrared catalogues (AllWISE and 2MASS) and with GAIA DR3. This led frequently to significantly improved coordinates and identified contaminations with non-stellar sources. About 40% of all OH maser-detected stars were not detected by GAIA. These are mostly representatives of the population of highly obscured stars at the end of AGB or at the beginning of post-AGB evolution.

Our knowledge of massive star evolution is limited by uncertainties linked with multi-dimensional processes taking place in stellar interiors. Important examples are convective boundary mixing (CBM) and entrainment, which are implemented in 1D stellar evolution models assuming simplified prescriptions. 3D hydrodynamics models can improve these prescriptions by studying realistic multi-D processes for a short timerange (minutes or hours). In these proceedings, we present results coming from a new set of high-resolution hydrodynamics simulations of a neon-burning shell in a massive star, and discuss how the entrainment law can be calibrated from 3D models and then used to improve 1D stellar evolution prescriptions.

In this short review we present the recent progresses in modelling fast rotating stars in two dimensions. We thus give a brief description of the features of the public domain code ESTER that can compute self-consistently the structure and the large-scale flows (differential rotation and meridional circulation) of an axisymmetric stellar model of a (fast) rotating early-type main sequence star. We illustrate these modelling with the recent results obtained on Altair, a nearby extremely fast rotator. We then discuss the various way mixing takes place in the stably stratified radiative envelope of early-type stars, and especially in massive ones where the radiative winds add a new source of large-scale flows, which are shown to be strongly anisotropic and very difficult to represent in one dimension.

Based on the results of an on-going monitoring program of 1612 MHz OH masers in OH/IR stars, we determined a lifetime encompassing late AGB and early post-AGB evolution of at least 4500 years. Fading of the OH masers observed with the Nançay Radio Telescope is detected in several post-AGB OH/IR stars on timescales of decades, while AllWISE/NEOWISE light curves taken almost in parallel show diverse behaviours.

In addition to being spectacular objects, very massive stars (VMS) are suspected to have a tremendous impact on their environment and on the whole cosmic evolution. The nucleosynthesis both during their advanced stages and their final explosion likely contribute greatly to the overall enrichment of the Universe. Their resulting Supernovae are candidates for the most superluminous events and their extreme conditions lead also to very important radiative and mechanical feedback effects, from local to cosmic scale. With the recent implementation of a new equation of state in the GENEC stellar evolution code, appropriate for describing the conditions in the central regions of very massive stars in the advanced phases, we present new results on VMS evolution from Population III to solar metallicity. We explore their evolution and final fate as potential (P)PISNe across the cosmic time. We compare our results to recent spectroscopic observations of VMS in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We also underline the important radiative feedback of Population III VMS during the reionization epoch and the chemical contribution of these stars at high metallicity, especially for short-lived radionuclei.

Eight planetary nebulae (PNe) are known to emit OH and/or H2O masers, but there is no report of an SiO maser in this type of objects. We present a search for SiO masers in 16 confirmed and candidate PNe, carried out with the Australia Telescope Compact Array. We found no evidence of association between SiO masers and PNe in our data. Previous detections of thermal SiO emission in PNe show that these molecules can be present in gas phase in this type of objects, but it is not yet clear whether they can be found where the physical conditions are appropriate for maser pumping. We suggest that the best candidates for a new search would be PNe showing high-velocity outflows.

In recent years, it has been discovered that massive stars commonly exhibit a non-coherent form of variability in their light curves referred to as stochastic low frequency (SLF) variability. Various physical mechanisms can produce SLF variability in such stars, including stochastic gravity waves excited at the interface of convective and radiative regions, dynamic turbulence generated in the near-surface layers, and clumpy winds. Gravity waves in particular are a promising candidate for explaining SLF variability as they can be ubiquitously generated in main sequence stars owing to the presence of a convective core, and because they provide the large-scale predominantly tangential velocity field required to explain macroturbulence in spectral line fitting. Here, I provide an overview of the methods and results of studying SLF variability in massive stars from time series photometry and spectroscopy.

Water fountains (WFs) are thought to represent an early stage in the morphological evolution of circumstellar envelopes surrounding low- and intermediate-mass evolved stars. These objects are considered to transition from spherical to asymmetric shapes. Despite their potential importance in this transformation process of evolved stars, there are only a few known examples. To identify new WF candidates, we used databases of circumstellar OH (1612 MHz) and H2O (22.235 GHz) maser sources, and compared the velocity ranges of the two maser lines. Finally, 41 sources were found to have a velocity range for the H2O maser line that exceeded that of the OH maser line. Excluding known planetary nebulae and after reviewing the maser spectra in the original literature, we found for 11 sources the exceedance as significant, qualifying them as new WF candidates.