Massive star abundances in the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds

Abstract

The use of photospheric abundances in OB-type main-sequence stars and A and B-type supergiants as probes of rotation and evolutionary status is reviewed. The abundances of CNO and boron can be compared quantitatively with stellar evolutionary calculations. In particular the abundance ratios of N/O and N/C can be derived in blue supergiants to determine if they are consistent with the stars having gone through a red supergiant phase and dredge-up of core material to the surface. The results from several different studies are reviewed and compared. For blue supergiant stars in the mass-range 5-80 M⊙ the situation appears consistent — there is no evidence for stars of any mass having undergone blue-loops in the HR diagram. The stellar samples show significant signs of having N enriched atmospheres, and the quantitative values are consistent with stellar evolutionary calculations which invoke turbulent diffusive mixing while massive stars are on the main-sequence. Results on the interesting blue supergiant Sher 25 are presented, and linked to Sk-69°202; the B3Ia progenitor of SN 1987A. A spectacular ejection nebula surrounds Sher 25, much like that which was ejected by Sk–69°202 during its final stages of evolution. Both of these were thought to have been formed during a mass-loss event when the stars were in the red supergiant phase. The CNO abundances derived in Sher 25 suggest the nebula was ejected during the blue supergiant phase, and that rotation can explain the N-enrichment found in the stellar photosphere.