2007A&A...476..893S

Massive AGB (hereafter super-AGB or SAGB) stars ignite carbon off-center and have initial masses ranging between M_up, the minimum initial mass for carbon ignition, and M_mas the minimum mass for the formation of an iron core collapse supernova. In this mass interval, stars more massive than M_n will undergo an electron capture supernova (EC-SN). We study the fate and selected evolutionary properties of SAGB stars up to the end of the carbon burning phase as a function of metallicity and core overshooting. The method is based on the analysis of a large set of stellar models covering the mass range 5-13M_☉ and calculated for 7 different metallicities between Z=10^–5 and twice solar. Core overshooting was considered in two subsets for Z=10^–4 and 0.02. The models are available online at http://www-astro.ulb.ac.be/~siess/database.html . The fate of SAGB stars is investigated through a parametric model which allows us to assess the role of mass loss and of the third dredge-up. Our main results can be summarized as follows: a) prior to C-burning, the evolution of SAGB stars is very similar to that of intermediate-mass stars, being more luminous, b) SAGB stars suffer a large He enrichment at the end of the second dredge-up, c) the limiting masses M_up, M_n and M_mas present a nonlinear behavior with Z, characterized by a minimum around Z=10^–4, d) the values of M_up, M_n and M_mas are decreased by ∼2M_☉ when core overshooting is considered, e) our models predict a minimum oxygen-neon white dwarf mass of ∼1.05M_☉, f) the determination of M_n is highly dependent on the mass loss and core growth rates, g) the evolutionary channel for EC-SN is limited to a very narrow mass range of ≲1-1.5M_☉ width and this mass window can be further decreased if some metallicity scaling factor is applied to the mass loss rate, h) the final fate of SAGB stars is connected to the second dredge-up and this property allowed us to refine the initial mass range for the formation of EC-SN. We find that if the ratio of the mass loss rate to the core growth rate averaged over the post carbon-burning evolution ζ=|<{dot}(M)>_loss/<{dot}(M)>_core| is greater than about 70-90, the evolutionary path to EC-SN is not accessible.