The Dawes Review 2: Nucleosynthesis and stellar yields of low and intermediate-mass single stars

The chemical evolution of the Universe is governed by the chemical yields from stars, which in turn is determined primarily by the initial stellar mass. Even stars as low as 0.9M⊙ can, at low metallicity, contribute to the chemical evolution of elements. Stars less massive than about 10M⊙ experience recurrent mixing events that can significantly change the surface composition of the envelope, with observed enrichments in carbon, nitrogen, fluorine, and heavy elements synthesized by the slow neutron capture process (the s-process). Low and intermediate mass stars release their nucleosynthesis products through stellar outflows or winds, in contrast to massive stars that explode as core-collapse supernovae. Here we review the stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis for single stars up to ∼ 10M⊙ from the main sequence through to the tip of the asymptotic giant branch (AGB). We include a discussion of the main uncertainties that affect theoretical calculations and review the latest observational data, which are used to constrain uncertain details of the stellar models. We finish with a review of the stellar yields available for stars less massive than about 10M⊙ and discuss efforts by various groups to address these issues and provide homogeneous yields for low and intermediate-mass stars covering a broad range of metallicities.