We present a review of the main phases of stellar evolution with particular emphasis on the nucleosynthesis and mixing mechanisms in low-and intermediate-mass stars. In addition to explicit studies of the eeects of the rst, second and third dredge-up, we also discuss cool bottom processing and hot bottom burning. In recent years a wealth of new abundance data has been obtained, both from stella...

Small amounts of pre-solar grains have survived in the matrices of primitive meteorites and interplanetary dust particles. Their detailed study in the laboratory with modern analytical tools provides highly accurate and detailed information with regard to stellar nucleosynthesis and evolution, grain formation in stellar atmospheres, and Galactic Chemical Evolution. Their survival puts constrain...

Using the StarTrack population synthesis code we compute the distribution of masses of merging compact object (black hole or neutron star) binaries. The shape of the mass distribution is sensitive to some of the parameters governing the stellar binary evolution. We discuss the possibility of constraining stellar evolution models using mass measurements obtained from the detection of compact obj...