Understanding the nucleosynthetic origin of nitrogen and the evolution of the N/O ratio in the interstellar medium is crucial for a comprehensive picture of galaxy chemical evolution at high-redshift because most observational metallicity (O/H) estimates are implicitly dependent on the N/O ratio. The observed N/O at high-redshift shows an overall constancy with O/H, albeit with a large scatter. We show that these heretofore unexplained features can be explained by the pre-supernova wind yields from rotating massive stars (M≳10M⊙,ν/νcrit≳0.4). Our models naturally produce the observed N/O plateau, as well as the scatter at low O/H. We find the scatter to arise from varying star formation efficiency. However, the models that have supernovae dominated yields produce a poor fit to the observed N/O at low O/H. This peculiar abundance pattern at low O/H suggests that dwarf galaxies are most likely to be devoid of SNe yields and are primarily enriched by pre-supernova wind abundances.

In recent years, the discovery of massive quasars at $z\sim7$ has provided a striking challenge to our understanding of the origin and growth of supermassive black holes in the early Universe. Mounting observational and theoretical evidence indicates the viability of massive seeds, formed by the collapse of supermassive stars, as a progenitor model for such early, massive accreting black holes. Although considerable progress has been made in our theoretical understanding, many questions remain regarding how (and how often) such objects may form, how they live and die, and how next generation observatories may yield new insight into the origin of these primordial titans. This review focusses on our present understanding of this remarkable formation scenario, based on the discussions held at the Monash Prato Centre from November 20 to 24, 2017, during the workshop ‘Titans of the Early Universe: The Origin of the First Supermassive Black Holes’.

Underground Nuclear Astrophysics in China (JUNA) will take the advantage of the ultra-low background in Jinping underground lab. High current accelerator with an ECR source and detectors were commissioned. JUNA plans to study directly a number of nuclear reactions important to hydrostatic stellar evolution at their relevant stellar energies. At the first period, JUNA aims at the direct measurements of 25Mg(p,γ)26 Al, 19F(p,α) 16 O, 13C(α, n) 16O and 12C(α,γ) 16O near the Gamow window. The current progress of JUNA will be given.

We present results of a systematic and detailed stellar evolution study of binary mergers for blue supergiant (BSG) progenitors of Type II supernovae, particularly for SN 1987A. We are able to reproduce nearly all observational aspects of the progenitor of SN 1987A, Sk –69 °202, such as its position in the HR diagram, the enrichment of helium and nitrogen in the triple-ring nebula and its lifetime before its explosion. We build our evolutionary model based on the merger model of Podsiadlowski et al. (1992), Podsiadlowski et al. (2007) and empirically explore an initial parameter consisting of primary masses, secondary masses and different depths up to which the secondary penetrates the He core during the merger. The evolution of the post-merger star is continued until just before iron-core collapse. Of the 84 pre-supernova models (16 M⊙ − 23 M⊙) computed, the majority of the pre-supernova models are compact, hot BSGs with effective temperature >12 kK and 30 R⊙ − 70 R⊙ of which six match nearly all the observational properties of Sk –69 °202.

We construct stellar evolution models until core collapse using KEPLER (Woosley & Heger (2007)) to reproduce the observed signatures of the blue supergiant (BSG) progenitor of SN 1987A. This is based on the binary merger scenario proposed by Podsiadlowski (1992) and Ivanova et al. (2002). Various combinations of initial parameters for the binary components (M1=16–18 M⊙ and M2=5–10 M⊙) and their merging, successfully match the He, N/C and N/O ratios, along with the luminosity and effective temperature of the progenitor. Most of our models end their lives as BSGs. Thus we may be able to explain the origin of all Type IIP SNe that resemble SN 1987A through such mergers. We are currently working on the light curves and nuclear yields from the explosion of these models to compare them SN 1987A.

We present the results from our cosmological simulations of the first stages of galaxy formation. We use Gadget-2 (Springel 2005), modified to include detailed cooling, chemistry, and radiative transfer of primordial gas to study the impact of the first stars on galaxy formation. In contrast to previous work, we apply a realistic treatment of stellar feedback by using updated stellar models for the first stars. In this proceeding, we briefly summarize how stellar feedback from the first stars affects the primordial IGM inside the first galaxies.

Recent studies have claimed the existence of very massive stars (VMS) up to 300 M⊙ in the local Universe. As this finding may represent a paradigm shift for the canonical stellar upper-mass limit of 150 M⊙, it is timely to discuss the status of the data, as well as the far-reaching implications of such objects. We held a Joint Discussion at the General Assembly in Beijing to discuss (i) the determination of the current masses of the most massive stars, (ii) the formation of VMS, (iii) their mass loss, and (iv) their evolution and final fate. The prime aim was to reach broad consensus between observers and theorists on how to identify and quantify the dominant physical processes.

The first generation of stars to form in the universe may have been very massive, and, due to the absence of initial metals, they could have retained most of their mass until their death and thus explode as pair instability supernovae. These supernovae encounter the late burning phases beyond carbon burning in an implosive/explosive way, leading to very powerful thermonuclear-powered explosions, up to a hundred times more powerful than ordinary supernovae. For primordial stars, these explosions also produce a peculiar abundance pattern, showing a strong odd-even pattern in the elemental abundances, a sharp drop-off of nucleosynthetic production beyond the iron group, and no r-process contribution. These results are greatly altered if only a small mass of 14N is dredged down into the helium burning core before the star becomes unstable. Such mixing could be a consequence of differential rotation or convective overshooting.

Massive stars are born rotating rigidly with a significant fraction of critical rotation at the surface. Consequently, rotationally-induced circulation and instabilities lead to chemical mixing in regions that would otherwise be stable, as well as a redistribution of angular momentum. Differential rotation also winds up magnetic fields, causing instabilities that can power a dynamo and magnetic stresses that lead to additional angular momentum transport. We follow the evolution of typical massive stars, their structure and angular momentum distribution, from the zero-age main sequence until iron core collapse. Without the action of magnetic fields, the resulting angular momentum is sufficiently large to significantly affect the explosion mechanism and neutron star formation. Sub-millisecond pulsars result that could encounter the r-mode instability. In helium cores massive enough, at least at low metalicity, the angular momentum is also sufficiently great to form a centrifugally supported accretion disk around a central black hole, powering the engine of the ‘collapsar’ model for GRBs. Including current estimates of the effect of magnetic fields still allows the formation of rapidly rotating (~ 5-10 ms) pulsars, but might leave too little angular momentum for collapsars.

We investigate the pre-supernova evolution of Wolf-Rayet stars. We discuss whether the separation of hydrogen-free, core collapse supernovae into Type Ic and Type Ib supernovae is related to the occurrence of ‘Case BB mass transfer’ in massive close binaries, especially since the new, smaller WR mass loss rates do not favor helium-poor progenitor models from massive single stars. We also discuss the influence of rotation on the formation, evolution and explosion of WR stars using new models for rotating massive stars that have been computed from zero age to core collapse. We compute the spin-down of (non-magnetic) WR stars due to their strong mass loss, and compare pulsar spin rates with our predictions. Finally, we discuss implications of our results for the rotation rate of Type Ib/c supernova progenitors in general, and for SN 1998bw and the ‘collapsar’ model for γ-ray bursts in particular.