We have a new paper from the UW Massive Stars research group! This paper is led by graduate student Trevor Dorn-Wallenstein and performs the very first detailed comparison of how binary interactions and stellar rotation affect the evolution of massive star populations! Following his previous work on the properties of binary massive star populations, Trevor simulates the evolution of massive stars using binary and rotating models and examines how these complex phenomena wind up impacting the population ratios of different types of stars (Wolf-Rayet stars, red supergiants, yellow supergiants, and so on). It’s the first comparison of its kind and breaks down the details of how we current model binary and rotating stellar evolution along with identifying stellar ratios that could be potentially used to study these phenomena on large population scales.

The paper is in press with ApJ and can be currently found on arXiv.