Massive Stars: Life and Death, José Luis Prieto (Ohio State University)

Although small in number, massive stars are critical to the formation and evolution of galaxies. They shape the interstellar medium of galaxies through their strong winds and ultra-violet radiation, are a major source of the heavy elements enriching the interstellar medium, and are the progenitors of core-collapse supernovae and gamma-ray bursts, which are among the most energetic explosions in the Universe and mark the death of a massive star. Still, our understanding of the connection between massive stars and supernovae from observations is fairly limited. In this dissertation, I present new observational evidence that shows the importance of metallicity, mass-loss, and binarity in the lives and deaths of massive stars.