We present Gemini/IFU observations that sample the roots of the galactic wind outflows in the starburst galaxies NGC 1569 and M82. The good spatial and spectral resolutions of these observations allow us to probe the interactions of cluster winds with their environments on small scales. For both galaxies, we find a ubiquitous broad (200–300 km s−1) Hα component underlying a brighter narrower component. By mapping the properties of the individual line components, we find correlations that suggest that the broad component results from powerful cluster wind-gas clump interactions. For NGC 1569, there is little evidence for organised gas flows within the central zone and we suggest that the flow-dominated wind must form well beyond the region containing the massive star clusters. For M82, we find that the kinematics of the wind base are very complex; the width of the broad component reaches values of > 350 km s−1 at the base of the wind, and the outflow itself rapidly becomes chaotic in the inner wind region.

We examine the fate of ionizing radiation from massive stars on global scales. First, we compare the observed Hα luminosities of LMC Hii regions with those predicted by the latest generation of stellar atmosphere models. Our results imply that classical Hii regions are on average radiation-bounded, rather than density-bounded, as we found a decade ago. This is likely to necessitate an additional ionizing source for the diffuse, warm ionized medium (WIM) in galaxies. Secondly, we present new results from the SINGG Hα galaxy survey, showing that starburst galaxies have a lower fraction of WIM emission than normal star-forming galaxies. The most intriguing and consequential possible cause for this effect is the escape of ionizing radiation from starbursts. We show that the observations are also consistent with our predictions for the escape of ionizing radiation. Nevertheless, other observations do not necessarily support this scenario and other possible explanations must be considered.

I will review the role of massive stars in galactic evolution both from the nucleosynthesis and energetics point of view. In particular, I will highlight some important observational facts explained by means of massive stars in galaxies of different morphological type: the Milky Way, ellipticals and dwarf spheroidals. I will describe first the time-delay model and its interpretation in terms of abundance ratios in galaxies, then I will discuss the importance of mass loss in massive stars to reproduce the data in the Galactic bulge and disk. I will discuss also how massive stars can be important producers of primary nitrogen if rotation in stellar models is taken into account. Concerning elliptical galaxies, I will show that to reproduce the observed [Mg/Fe] versus Mass relation in these galaxies it is necessary to assume a more important role of massive stars in more massive galaxies and that this can be achieved by means of downsizing in star formation. I will discuss how massive stars are responsible in triggering galactic winds both in ellipticals and dwarf spheroidals. These latter systems show a low overabundance of α-elements relative to Fe with respect to Galactic stars of the same [Fe/H]: this is interpreted as due to a slow star formation coupled with very efficient galactic winds. Finally, I will show a comparison between the predicted Type Ib/c rates in galaxies and the observed GRB rate and how we can impose constraints on the mechanism of galaxy formation by studying the GRB rate at high redshift.

Despite the complexity and uncertainties of core collapse supernova simulations there is a need to provide correct nucleosynthesis abundances for the progressing field of galactic evolution and observations of low metallicity stars. Especially the innermost ejecta are directly affected by the explosion mechanism, i.e. most strongly the yields of Fe-group nuclei for which an induced piston or thermal bomb treatment will not provide the correct yields because the effect of neutrino interactions is not included.

Recent observations of metal-poor halo stars support the suggested existence of a lighter element primary process (LEPP) which operates very early in the galaxy and is independent of the r-process. We present a candidate for the LEPP, the so-called νp-process.

We discuss the nature of the Galactic center lobe (GCL), a degree-tall, loop-like structure apparently erupting from the central few hundred parsecs of our Galaxy. Although its coincidence with the Galactic center has inspired diverse models for its origin, the observational evidence connecting this structure to the GC region has been thin. We describe a multiwavelength observing campaign with the VLA, GBT, Spitzer, and other telescopes that finds compelling evidence that the structure is likely formed by a mass outflow from the central tens of parsecs of our Galaxy. The size and mass of the putative outflow is consistent with that expected from the observed supernova rate and gas pressure in the GC region. If the GCL is a mass outflow, its relative proximity offers a unique opportunity for studying these structures in unprecedented detail.

The five years that have passed since the last IAU Symposium devoted to massive stars have seen a veritable explosion of data on the high redshift universe. The tools developed to study massive stars in nearby galaxies are finding increasing application to the analysis of the spectra of star-forming regions at redshifts as high as z = 7. In this brief review, I consider three topics of relevance to this symposium: the determination of the metallicities of galaxies at high redshifts from consideration of their ultraviolet stellar spectra; constraints on the initial mass function of massive stars in galaxies at z = 2 − 3; and new clues to the nucleosynthesis of carbon and nitrogen in massive stars of low metallicity. The review concludes with a look ahead at some of the questions that may occupy us for the next five years (at least!).

We present recent progress in searching for galaxies at redshift from z ≃ 5 to z ∼ 10. Wide-field and sensitive surveys with 8m class telescopes have been providing more than several hundreds of star forming galaxies at z ∼ 5 − 7 that are probed in the optical window. These galaxies are used to study the early cosmic star formation activity as well as the early structure formation in the universe. Moreover, near infrared deep imaging and spectroscopic surveys have found probable candidates of galaxies from z ∼ 7 to z ∼ 10. Although these candidates are too faint to be identified unambiguously, we human being are now going to the universe beyond 13 billion light years, close to the epoch of first-generations stars; i.e., Population III stars. We also mention about challenges to find Population III-dominated galaxies in the early universe.

Although it has long been hypothesised that core-collapse supernovae may produce large quantities of dust, interest in this problem has recently been rekindled given the enormous dust masses inferred at very high redshifts (z ≳ 6), when conventional low-mass dust-producing stars would fail to contribute significantly to the universal dust budget. Emission due to warm dust peaks at mid-IR wavelengths. However, with the notable exception of SN 1987A, supernova studies in the mid-IR have been virtually non-existent until the advent of the Spitzer Space Telescope. On behalf of the Mid-Infrared Supernova Consortium, I briefly discuss recent exciting results from mid-IR studies of core-collapse supernovae using Spitzer and attempt to put the role of supernovae as major dust producers into perspective.

Long-duration gamma-ray bursts are the manifestations of massive stellar death. Due to the immense energy release they are detectable from most of the observable universe. In this way they allow us to study the deaths of single (or binary) massive stars possibly throughout the full timespan massive stars have existed in the Universe. GRBs provide a means to infer information about the environments and typical galaxies in which massive stars are formed. Two main obstacles remain to be crossed before the full potential of GRBs as probes of massive stars can be harvested: i) we need to build more complete and well understood samples in order not to be fooled by biases, and ii) we need to understand to which extent GRBs may be intrinsically biased in the sense that they are only formed by a limited subset of massive stars defined by most likely a restricted metallicity interval. I describe the status of an ongoing effort to build a more complete sample of long-duration GRBs with measured redshifts. Already now we can conclude that the environments of GRB progenitors are very diverse with metallicities ranging from solar to a hundredth solar and extinction ranging from none to AV > 5 mag. We have also identified a sightline with significant escape of Lyman continuum photons and another with a clear 2175 Å extinction bump.

We review the properties of the gas surrounding high-redshift gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) assessed through the analysis of damped Lyman-alpha systems (DLAs) identified in their afterglow spectra. These GRB-DLAs are characterized by large H I column densities with a median of N(H I) = 1021.7 cm−2, no molecular gas signatures, metallicities ranging from 1/100 to nearly solar with a median exceeding 1/10 solar, and no anomalous abundance patterns. The detection of the atomic Mg lines and the time-variability of the fine-structure lines demonstrates that the majority of the neutral gas along the GRB sightlines is located between 50 pc and a few kpc from the GRB. This implies that this gas is presumably associated with the ambient interstellar medium of the host galaxy and that the derived properties from low-ionization lines do not directly constrain the local environment of the GRB progenitor. The highly ionized gas, traced by N V lines, which could result from a pre-existing H II region produced by the GRB progenitor and neighboring OB stars, appears on the other hand to be very local to the GRB at about 10 pc, yielding a snapshot of the medium's physical conditions at this radius.

The connection between the long GRBs and Type Ic Supernovae (SNe) has revealed the interesting diversity: (i) GRB-SNe, (ii) Non-GRB Hypernovae (HNe), (iii) X-Ray Flash (XRF)-SNe, and (iv) Non-SN GRBs (or dark HNe). We show that nucleosynthetic properties found in the above diversity are connected to the variation of the abundance patterns of extremely-metal-poor (EMP) stars, such as the excess of C, Co, Zn relative to Fe. We explain such a connection in a unified manner as nucleosynthesis of hyper-aspherical (jet-induced) explosions of Pop III core-collapse SNe. We show that (1) the explosions with large energy deposition rate, Ėdep, are observed as GRB-HNe and their yields can explain the abundances of normal EMP stars, and (2) the explosions with small Ėdep are observed as GRBs without bright SNe and can be responsible for the formation of the C-rich EMP (CEMP) and the hyper metal-poor (HMP) stars. We thus propose that GRB-HNe and the Non-SN GRBs (dark HNe) belong to a continuous series of BH-forming massive stellar deaths with the relativistic jets of different Ėdep.

The formation of the first generations of stars at redshifts z ≥ 15 − 20 signaled the transition from the simple initial state of the universe to one of ever increasing complexity. We here review recent progress in understanding the assembly process of the first galaxies, starting with cosmological initial conditions and modelling the detailed physics of star formation. In particular, we study the role of HD cooling in ionized primordial gas, the impact of UV radiation produced by the first stars, and the propagation of the supernova blast waves triggered at the end of their brief lives. We conclude by discussing how the chemical abundance patterns observed in extremely low-metallicity stars allow us to probe the properties of the first stars.

We present the latest results on Cosmic Infrared Background (CIB) fluctuations from early epochs from deep Spitzer data. The results show the existence of significant CIB fluctuations at the IRAC wavelengths (3.6 to 8 μm) which remain after removing galaxies down to very faint levels. These fluctuations must arise from populations with a significant clustering component, but only low levels of the shot noise. There are no correlations between the source-subtracted IRAC maps and the corresponding fields observed with the HST ACS at optical wavelengths. Taken together, these data imply that 1) the sources producing the CIB fluctuations are individually faint with Sν < a few nJy at 3.6 and 4.5 μm; 2) have different clustering pattern than the more recent galaxy populations; 3) are located within the first 0.7 Gyr (unless these fluctuations can somehow be produced by - so far unobserved - local galaxies of extremely low luminosity and with the unusual for local populations clustering pattern), 4) produce contribution to the net CIB flux of at least 1-2 nW m−2 sr−1 at 3.6 and 4.5 μm and must have mass-to-light ratio significantly below the present-day populations, and 5) they have angular density of ~ a few per arcsec2 and are in the confusion of the present day instruments, but can be individually observable with JWST.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope scheduled for launch in 2013. JWST will find the first stars and galaxies that formed in the early universe, connecting the Big Bang to our own Milky Way galaxy. JWST will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems, connecting the Milky Way to our own Solar System. JWST's instruments are designed to work primarily in the infrared range of 1 - 28 μm, with some capability in the visible range. JWST will have a large segmented mirror, ~6.5 m in diameter, and will be diffraction-limited at 2 μm (< 0.1 arcsec resolution). JWST will be placed in an L2 orbit about 1.5 million km from the Earth. The instruments will provide imaging, coronography, and multi-object and integral-field spectroscopy across the 1 - 28 μm wavelength range. The breakthrough capabilities of JWST will enable new studies of massive stars from the Milky Way to the early universe.

The potential advantages of the new generation of Extremely Large Telescopes are briefly summarized. When used in combination with advanced adaptive optics modules which can substantially remove the effect of atmospheric turbulence at infrared wavelengths, these telescopes will provide unique capabilities both in terms of photon collecting power (→2-4 magnitude advantage) and angular resolution (4-5 times higher than with current 8-10m telescopes). The instruments under study for the TMT and E-ELT projects are presented and compared. I discuss the impact of the ELTs on three major science topics: stellar populations in galaxies to the Virgo distance, chemical abundances of the brighter stars in nearby galaxies and high redshift SN and GRBs.

While the broad-lined Type Ic supernovae (SN Ic-bl) associated with long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been studied, we do not fully understand the conditions that lead to each kind of explosion in a massive star. Here we show clues as to the production mechanism of GRBs by comparing the chemical abundances at the sites of 5 nearby (z < 0.25) broad-lined SN Ic that accompany nearby GRBs with those of 12 nearby (z < 0.14) broad-lined SN Ic that have no observed GRBs. We show that the oxygen abundances at the GRB sites are systematically lower than those found near ordinary broad-lined SN Ic. A unique feature of this analysis is that we present new spectra of the host galaxies and analyze the measurements of both samples in the same set of ways, using 3 independent metallicity diagnostics. We demonstrate that neither SN selection effects (SN found via targeted vs. non-targeted surveys) nor the choice of strong-line metallicity diagnostic can cause the observed trend. Though our sample size is small, the observations are consistent with the hypothesis that low metal abundance is the cause of some massive stars becoming SN-GRB. We derive a cut-off metallicity of 0.2−0.6 Z⊙, with the exact value depending on the adopted metallicity scale and solar abundance value.

We collect here the abstracts of five oral presentations for which the written contribution did not reach the editors in time for publication.

I summarize the highlights of the conference. First I provide a brief history of the beach symposia series our massive star community has been organizing. Then I use most of my allocated space discussing what I believe are the main answered and open questions in the field. Finally I conclude with a perspective of the future of massive star research.

SESSION I: Atmospheres of Massive Stars

SESSION II: Physics and Evolution of Massive Stars

SESSION III: Massive Star Populations in the Nearby Universe

SESSION IV: Hydrodynamics and Feedback from Massive Stars in Galaxy Evolution

SESSION V: Massive Stars as Probes of the Early Universe

This paper reports the contributions made on the occasion of the Special Session entitled “Evolution of Massive Stars at Low Metallicity” which was held on Sunday, December 9, 2007 in Kauai (USA).