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Copyright by Athena Ranice Stacy 2011 - The University of Texas at ...

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Woosley and Heger (2006) find through their stellar evolution models th<strong>at</strong><br />

very massive ∼ 20 M⊙ stars rapidly rot<strong>at</strong>ing <strong>at</strong> 400 km s −1 ( 40% <strong>of</strong> the<br />

break-up speed) can completely mix while on the MS, <strong>by</strong>passing the red giant<br />

phase and becoming a Wolf-Rayet (WR) star. This evolutionary p<strong>at</strong>h may<br />

furthermore allow the star to retain enough angular momentum to become a<br />

GRB, particularly if the star has low-metallicity and thus experiences signif-<br />

icantly reduced mass loss compared to solar-metallicity WR stars. Yoon and<br />

Langer (2005) agree, using a different numerical methodology, th<strong>at</strong> rot<strong>at</strong>ion-<br />

ally induced mixing will allow a low-metallicity massive star to evolve into<br />

a rapidly rot<strong>at</strong>ing WR star and potentially a GRB. Finally, Ekström et al.<br />

(2008a) studied the evolution <strong>of</strong> metal-free stars with a range <strong>of</strong> masses (15-<br />

200 M⊙) and a high rot<strong>at</strong>ion r<strong>at</strong>e <strong>of</strong> 800 km s −1 , corresponding to a fraction<br />

<strong>of</strong> 40-70% <strong>of</strong> their break-up speed. In contrast to the previous studies, in their<br />

models chemical mixing was usually not sufficient for the red giant phase to<br />

be avoided. In fact, they found th<strong>at</strong> the rot<strong>at</strong>ing stars generally end their lives<br />

<strong>at</strong> a cooler loc<strong>at</strong>ion <strong>of</strong> the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram (HRD). In addition,<br />

rot<strong>at</strong>ing stars produced a higher amount <strong>of</strong> metals, compared to their non-<br />

rot<strong>at</strong>ing counterparts. Ekström et al. (2008a) <strong>at</strong>tribute this difference to the<br />

fact th<strong>at</strong>, unlike the earlier studies, they did not include the magnetic dynamo<br />

mechanism <strong>of</strong> Spruit (2002). With or without this mechanism, however, all<br />

studies conclude th<strong>at</strong> stellar rot<strong>at</strong>ion altered the evolution and f<strong>at</strong>e <strong>of</strong> low-<br />

metallicity and Pop III stars. We also point out th<strong>at</strong>, though we sometimes<br />

refer to low-metallicity studies, Pop III evolution is distinct from th<strong>at</strong> <strong>of</strong> low-<br />

metallicity, and results for one do not simply extrapol<strong>at</strong>e to the other (e.g.<br />

Ekström et al. 2008b). This highlights the need for continued investig<strong>at</strong>ion <strong>of</strong><br />

rot<strong>at</strong>ing metal-free stars.<br />

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