The Initial/Final Mass Relation for Stars with Different Initial Chemical Compositions

Abstract

The initial/final mass relation (Mi–Mf) for small and intermediate mass stars depends strongly on the initial chemical composition (Z). Two factors play an important role in this effect: the dependence on Z of mass loss rates and the carbon-oxygen core initial mass. For heavy element abundances Z = 0.001 and Z = 0.02 the greatest differences of Mf and Mi are found between 1.5 < Mi/M⊙ < 4 and may be as great as 0.1 M⊙.