Pre-supernova mass loss predictions for massive stars

Massive stars and supernovae (SNe) have a huge impact on their environment. Despite their importance, a comprehensive knowledge of which massive stars produce which SNe is hitherto lacking. We use a Monte Carlo method to predict the mass-loss rates of massive stars in the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram (HRD) covering all phases from the OB main sequence, the unstable Luminous Blue Variable (LBV) stage, to the final Wolf-Rayet (WR) phase. Although WR produce their own metals, a strong dependence of the mass-loss rate on the initial iron abundance is found at sub-solar metallicities (1/10 - 1/100 solar). This may present a viable mechanism to prevent the loss of angular momentum by stellar winds, which could inhibit GRBs occurring at solar metallicities - providing a significant boost to the collapsar model. Furthermore, we discuss recently reported quasi-sinusoidal modulations in the radio lightcurves of SN 2001ig and SNe 2003bg. We show that both the sinusoidal behaviour and the recurrence timescale of these modulations are consistent with the predicted mass-loss behaviour of LBVs. We discuss potential ramifications for the "Conti" scenario for massive star evolution