Speaker
Description
Population III (Pop III) stars are the first generation of stars formed in the Universe from the collapse of pristine gas emerged from the Big Bang. Since this gas was composed only of H and He, with minor traces of D, Li, Be, and B, these stars evolved as metal-free structures, following very different evolution compared to stars in the local Universe. Since they were responsible for the first radiative, chemical, and mechanical feedback, studying how they evolved is very important for questions such as reionization, the first chemical enrichment, and the origin of carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars.
In my current work, I am developing stellar evolution models for zero metallicity massive stars by means of the FRANEC code and the following supernova explosions by means of the HYPERION code. My goal is to provide a self-consistent set of yields to investigate how these first stars shaped the chemical composition of the early Universe and influenced the formation of the subsequent stellar generations. I will present some of the first results regarding the evolutionary properties and the nucleosynthesis, discussing their specific implications within this framework.