Impact of stellar winds on the pair-instability supernova rate

Understand

Very massive stars (VMSs, $M_{\star}$ $\geq$ 100 M$_{\odot}$) play a crucial role in several astrophysical processes.

• At low metallicity, they might collapse directly into black holes, or end their lives as pair-instability supernovae.
• Recent observational results set an upper limit of $0.7\,{}\mathrm{ yr}^{-1} \,{}\mathrm{ Gpc}^{-3}$ on the rate density of pair-instability supernovae in the nearby Universe.
• However, most theoretical models predict rates exceeding this limit.