Evolution of massive stars with new hydrodynamic wind models

Context. Mass loss through radiatively line-driven winds is central to our understanding of the evolution of massive stars in both single and multiple systems. This mass loss plays a key role in modulating massive star evolution at different metallicities, especially in the case of very massive stars (M* >= 25 M-circle dot). Aims. Here we present evolutionary models for a set of massive stars, introducing a new prescription for the mass-loss rate obtained from hydrodynamical calculations in which the wind velocity profile, upsilon(r), and the line-acceleration, g(line), are obtained in a self-consistent way. These new prescriptions cover most of the main sequence phase of O-type stars. Methods. We made a grid of self-consistent mass-loss rates <(M)over dot>(sc) for a set of standard evolutionary tracks (i.e. using the old prescription for mass-loss rate) with different values for initial mass and metallicity. Based on this grid, we elaborate a statistical analysis to create a new simple formula for predicting the values of <(M)over dot>(sc) from the stellar parameters alone, without assuming any extra condition for the wind description. Therefore, replacing the mass-loss rates at the main sequence stage provided by the standard Vink's formula with our new recipe, we generate a new set of evolutionary tracks for M-Z(AMS) = 25, 40, 70, and 120 M-circle dot and metallicities Z = 0.014 (Galactic), Z = 0.006 (LMC), and Z = 0.002 (SMC). Results. Our new derived formula for mass-loss rate predicts a dependence <(M)over dot> proportional to Z(a), where a is no longer constant but dependent on the stellar mass: ranging from a similar to 0.53 when M* similar to 120 M-circle dot, to a similar to 1.02 when M* similar to 25 M-circle dot. We find important differences between the standard tracks and our new self-consistent tracks. Models adopting the new recipe for <(M)over dot> (which starts off at around three times weaker than the mass-loss rate from the old formulation) retain more mass during their evolution, which is expressed as larger radii and consequently more luminous tracks over the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. These differences are more prominent for the cases of M-ZAMS = 70 and 120 M-circle dot at solar metallicity, where we find self-consistent tracks are similar to 0.1 dex brighter and retain up to 20 M-circle dot more than with the classical models using the previous formulation for mass-loss rate. Later increments in the mass-loss rate for tracks when self-consistency is no longer used, attributed to the LBV stage, produce different final stellar radii and masses before the end of the H-burning stage, which are analysed case by case. Moreover, we observe remarkable differences in the evolution of the radionuclide isotope Al-26 in the core and on the surface of the star. As <(M)over dot>(sc) is weaker than the commonly adopted values for evolutionary tracks, self-consistent tracks predict a later modification in the abundance of Al-26 in the stellar winds. This new behaviour could provide useful information about the real contribution of this isotope from massive stars to the Galactic interstellar medium.