Abstract:
Stellar astrophysics underpins all areas of astronomy - the explosive deaths of massive stars as supernovae enrich their local environments with processed materials, driving subsequent chemical and galactic evolution, while the compact remnants they leave behind determine the rates of gravitational wave events in the Universe. As such, linking massive stars to their cosmic endpoints is a fundamental aim of stellar astronomy. For a long time, theorists painted a conceptually simple picture; upon exhausting its hydrogen core most massive stars will swell to become a red supergiant before dying as a core-collapse supernova, leaving behind a neutron star remnant. Above some mass, the star may collapse directly to form a black hole with little or no visible explosion. However, modern surveys and advances in stellar modeling are leading to a revolution in stellar physics, with major tensions between observations and theory now being highlighted. In this talk, I will discuss my previous work which focused on the lives and deaths of red supergiants, including their significantly lower mass-loss rates and the consequences for the infamous “Red Supergiant problem”. I will also discuss my future research plans detailing new insights from cutting-edge observational facilities (including JWST, Rubin-LSST, Roman) in conjunction with state-of-the-art stellar models, aiming to conclusively determine which stars end their lives as supernovae, what those supernovae will look like, and which objects fail to explode and collapse directly to black holes.