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Register a new userConstraints on the H2O formation mechanism in the wind of carbon-rich AGB stars
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Context. The recent detection of warm H$_2$O vapor emission from the outflows of carbon-rich asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars challenges the current understanding of circumstellar chemistry. Two mechanisms have been invoked to explain warm H$_2$O vapor formation. In the first, periodic shocks passing through the medium immediately above the stellar surface lead to H$_2$O formation. In the second, penetration of ultraviolet interstellar radiation through a clumpy circumstellar medium leads to the formation of H$_2$O molecules in the intermediate wind. Aims. We aim to determine the properties of H$_2$O emission for a sample of 18 carbon-rich AGB stars and subsequently constrain which of the above mechanisms provides the most likely warm H$_2$O formation pathway. Methods, Results, and Conclusions. See paper.
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Aluminium monoxide, AlO, is likely efficiently depleted from the gas around oxygen-rich evolved stars to form alumina clusters and dust seeds. Its presence in the extended atmospheres of evolved stars has been derived from optical spectroscopy. More recently, AlO gas was also detected at long wavelengths around the supergiant VY CMa and the oxygen-rich asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star o Cet (Mira A). In search of AlO, we mined data obtained with APEX, the IRAM 30m telescope, Herschel/HIFI, SMA, and ALMA, which were primarily aimed at studying other molecular species. We report here on observations of AlO towards a sample of eight oxygen-rich AGB stars in different rotational transitions, up to seven for some stars. We present definite detections of one rotational transition of AlO for o Cet and R Aqr, and tentative detections of one transition for R Dor and o Cet, and two for IK Tau and W Hya. The presented spectra of WX Psc, R Cas, and TX Cam show no signature of AlO. For o Cet, R Aqr, and IK Tau, we find that the AlO(N=9-8) emission likely traces the inner parts of the wind, out to only a few tens of AU, where the gas has not yet reached its terminal velocity. The conclusive detections of AlO emission in the case of o Cet and R Aqr confirm the presence of AlO gas in outflows of AGB stars. The tentative detections further support this. Since most of the observations presented in this study were obtained with stronger emission from other species than AlO in mind, observations with higher sensitivity in combination with high angular resolution will improve our understanding of the presence and behaviour of AlO. From the current data sets we cannot firmly conclude whether there is a direct correlation between the wind properties and the detection rate of AlO emission. We hope that this study can serve as a stimulus to perform sample studies in search of AlO in oxygen-rich outflows.
We aim to constrain the temperature and velocity structures, and H2O abundances in the winds of a sample of M-type AGB stars. We further aim to determine the effect of H2O line cooling on the energy balance in the inner circumstellar envelope. We use two radiative-transfer codes to model molecular emission lines of CO and H2O towards four M-type AGB stars. We focus on spectrally resolved observations of CO and H2O from HIFI. The observations are complemented by ground-based CO observations, and spectrally unresolved CO and H2O observations with PAC. The observed line profiles constrain the velocity structure throughout the circumstellar envelopes (CSEs), while the CO intensities constrain the temperature structure in the CSEs. The H2O observations constrain the o-H2O and p-H2O abundances relative to H2. Finally, the radiative-transfer modelling allows to solve the energy balance in the CSE, in principle including also H2O line cooling. The fits to the line profiles only set moderate constraints on the velocity profile, indicating shallower acceleration profiles in the winds of M-type AGB stars than predicted by dynamical models, while the CO observations effectively constrain the temperature structure. Including H2O line cooling in the energy balance was only possible for the low-mass-loss-rate objects in the sample, and required an ad hoc adjustment of the dust velocity profile in order to counteract extreme cooling in the inner CSE. H2O line cooling was therefore excluded from the models. The constraints set on the temperature profile by the CO lines nevertheless allowed us to derive H2O abundances. The derived H2O abundances confirm previous estimates and are consistent with chemical models. However, the uncertainties in the derived abundances are relatively large, in particular for p-H2O, and consequently the derived o/p-H2O ratios are not well constrained.
We obtained high-resolution near-IR spectra of 45 AGB stars located in the Galactic bulge. The aim of the project is to determine key elemental abundances in these stars to help constrain the formation history of the bulge. A further aim is to link the photospheric abundances to the dust species found in the winds of the stars. Here we present a progress report of the analysis of the spectra.
We observed the AGB stars S Ori, GX Mon and R Cnc with the MIDI instrument at the VLTI. We compared the data to radiative transfer models of the dust shells, where the central stellar intensity profiles were described by dust-free dynamic model atmospheres. We used Al2O3 and warm silicate grains. Our S Ori and R Cnc data could be well described by an Al2O3 dust shell alone, and our GX Mon data by a mix of an Al2O3 and a silicate shell. The best-fit parameters for S Ori and R Cnc included photospheric angular diameters Theta(Phot) of 9.7+/-1.0mas and 12.3+/-1.0mas, optical depths tau(V)(Al2O3) of 1.5+/-0.5 and 1.35+/-0.2, and inner radii R(in) of 1.9+/-0.3R(Phot) and 2.2+/-0.3R(Phot), respectively. Best-fit parameters for GX Mon were Theta(Phot)=8.7+/-1.3mas, tau(V)(Al2O3)=1.9+/-0.6, R(in)(Al2O3)=2.1+/-0.3R(Phot), tau(V)(silicate)=3.2+/-0.5, and R(in)(silicate)=4.6+/-0.2R(Phot). Our model fits constrain the chemical composition and the inner boundary radii of the dust shells, as well as the photospheric angular diameters. Our interferometric results are consistent with Al2O3 grains condensing close to the stellar surface at about 2 stellar radii, co-located with the extended atmosphere and SiO maser emission, and warm silicate grains at larger distances of about 4--5 stellar radii. We verified that the number densities of aluminum can match that of the best-fit Al2O3 dust shell near the inner dust radius in sufficiently extended atmospheres, confirming that Al2O3 grains can be seed particles for the further dust condensation. Together with literature data of the mass-loss rates, our sample is consistent with a hypothesis that stars with low mass-loss rates form primarily dust that preserves the spectral properties of Al2O3, and stars with higher mass-loss rate form dust with properties of warm silicates.
We investigate the formation of silicon carbide (SiC) grains in the framework of dust-driven wind around pulsating carbon-rich Asymptotic Giant Branch (C-rich AGB) stars in order to reveal not only the amount but also the size distribution. Two cases are considered for the nucleation process; one is the LTE case where the vibration temperature of SiC clusters $T_{rm v}$ is equal to the gas temperature as usual, and another is the non-LTE case in which $T_{rm v}$ is assumed to be the same as the temperature of small SiC grains. The results of hydrodynamical calculations for a model with stellar parameters of mass $M_{ast}$=1.0 $M_{odot}$, luminosity $L_{ast}$=10$^{4}$ $L_{odot}$, effective temperature $T_{rm eff}$=2600 K, C/O ratio=1.4, and pulsation period $P$=650 days show the followings: In the LTE case, SiC grains condense in accelerated outflowing gas after the formation of carbon grains and the resulting averaged mass ratio of SiC to carbon grains of $sim$ 10$^{-8}$ is too small to reproduce the value of 0.01-0.3 inferred from the radiative transfer models. On the other hand, in the non-LTE case, the formation region of SiC grains is inner than and/or almost identical to that of carbon grains due to the so-called inverse greenhouse effect. The mass ratio of SiC to carbon grains averaged at the outer boundary ranges from 0.098 to 0.23 for the sticking probability $alpha_{rm s}$=0.1-1.0. The size distributions with the peak at $sim$ 0.2-0.3 $rm{mu}$m in radius cover the range of size derived from the analysis of presolar SiC grains. Thus the difference between temperatures of small cluster and gas plays a crucial role in the formation process of SiC grains around C-rich AGB stars, and this aspect should be explored for the formation process of dust grains in astrophysical environments.
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