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Register a new userDo evolved stars in the LMC show dual dust chemistry?
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We study a group of evolved M-stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, characterized by a peculiar spectral energy distribution. While the $9.7~mu$m feature arises from silicate particles, the whole infrared data seem to suggest the presence of an additional featureless dust species. We propose that the circumstellar envelopes of these sources are characterized by a dual dust chemistry, with an internal region, harbouring carbonaceous particles, and an external zone, populated by silicate, iron and alumina dust grains. Based on the comparison with results from stellar modelling that describe the dust formation process, we deduce that these stars descend from low-mass ($M < 2~M_{odot}$) objects, formed $1-4$ Gyr ago, currently evolving either in the post-AGB phase or through an after-pulse phase, when the shell CNO nuclear activity is temporarily extinguished. Possible observations able to confirm or disregard the present hypothesis are discussed.
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Massive evolved stars can produce large amounts of dust, and far-infrared (IR) data are essential for determining the contribution of cold dust to the total dust mass. Using Herschel, we search for cold dust in three very dusty massive evolved stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud: R71 is a Luminous Blue Variable, HD36402 is a Wolf-Rayet triple system, and IRAS05280-6910 is a red supergiant. We model the spectral energy distributions using radiative transfer codes and find that these three stars have mass-loss rates up to 10^-3 solar masses/year, suggesting that high-mass stars are important contributors to the life-cycle of dust. We found far-IR excesses in two objects, but these excesses appear to be associated with ISM and star-forming regions. Cold dust (T < 100 K) may thus not be an important contributor to the dust masses of evolved stars.
We present JCMT SCUBA-2 $450mu$m and $850mu$m observations of 14 Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars (9 O--rich, 4 C-rich and 1 S--type) and one Red Supergiant (RSG) in the Solar Neighbourhood. We combine these observations with emph{Herschel}/PACS observations at $70mu$m and $160mu$m and obtain azimuthally-averaged surface-brightness profiles and their PSF subtracted residuals. The extent of the SCUBA-2 850 $mu$m emission ranges from 0.01 to 0.16 pc with an average of $sim40%$ of the total flux being emitted from the extended component. By fitting a modified black-body to the four-point SED at each point along the radial profile we derive the temperature ($T$), spectral index of dust emissivity ($beta$) and dust column density ($Sigma$) as a function of radius. For all the sources, the density profile deviates significantly from what is expected for a constant mass-loss rate, showing that all the sources have undergone variations in mass-loss during this evolutionary phase. In combination with results from CO line emission, we determined the dust-to-gas mass ratio for all the sources in our sample. We find that, when sources are grouped according to their chemistry, the resulting average dust-to-gas ratios are consistent with the respective canonical values. However we see a range of values with significant scatter which indicate the importance of including spatial information when deriving these numbers.
Common Envelope (CE) systems are the result of Roche lobe overflow in interacting binaries. The subsequent evolution of the CE, its ejection and the formation of dust in its ejecta while the primary is on the Red Giant Branch, gives rise to a recently-identified evolutionary class -- dusty post-RGB stars. Their spectral energy distributions (SEDs) suggest that their mass-ejecta are similar to dusty post-Asymptotic Giant Branch (post-AGB) stars. We have modeled the SEDs of a select sample of post-RGB and post-AGB stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), quantified the total dust mass (and gas mass assuming gas-to-dust ratio) in the disks and shells and set constraints on the dust grain compositions and sizes. We find that the shell masses in the post-RGBs are generally less than those in post-AGBs, with the caveat that a substantial amount of mass in both types of objects may lie in cold, extended shells. Our models suggest that circumstellar disks, when present, are geometrically thick, flared structures with a substantial opening angle, consistent with numerical simulations of CE evolution (CEE). Comparison of our model dust mass values with the predictions of dust production during CEE on the RGB suggest that CEE occurred near or at the top of the RGB for the post-RGB sources in our sample. A surprising result is that the ejected dust in some post-RGB sources appears to be carbon-rich, providing independent support for the hypothesis of binary interaction leading to the formation of dusty post-RGB objects.
We study the evolved stellar population of the Local Group galaxy IC10, with the aim of characterizing the individual sources observed and to derive global information on the galaxy, primarily the star formation history and the dust production rate. To this aim, we use evolutionary sequences of low- and intermediate-mass ($M < 8~M_{odot}$) stars, evolved through the asymptotic giant branch phase, with the inclusion of the description of dust formation. We also use models of higher mass stars. From the analysis of the distribution of stars in the observational planes obtained with IR bands, we find that the reddening and distance of IC10 are $E(B-V)=1.85$ mag and $d=0.77$ Mpc, respectively. The evolved stellar population is dominated by carbon stars, that account for $40%$ of the sources brighter than the tip of the red giant branch. Most of these stars descend from $sim 1.1-1.3~M_{odot}$ progenitors, formed during the major epoch of star formation, which occurred $sim 2.5$ Gyr ago. The presence of a significant number of bright stars indicates that IC10 has been site of significant star formation in recent epochs and currently hosts a group of massive stars in the core helium-burning phase. Dust production in this galaxy is largely dominated by carbon stars; the overall dust production rate estimated is $7times 10^{-6}~M_{odot}$/yr.
With an aim to investigate how the surface abundances of intermediate-mass stars off the main sequence (evolving toward the red-giant stage) are affected by the evolution-induced envelope mixing, we spectroscopically determined the abundances of Li, C, N, O, and Na for selected 62 late A through G subgiants, giants, and supergiants, which are often called Hertzsprung-gap stars, by applying the synthetic spectrumfitting technique to Li I 6708, C I 5380, N I 7460, O I 6156-8, and Na I 6161 lines. A substantially large star-to-star dispersion (> 2 dex) was confirmed for the Li abundances, indicating that this vulnerable element can either suffer significant depletion before the red-giant stage or almost retain the primordial composition. Regarding C, N, O, and Na possibly altered by dredge-up of nuclear-processed products, their abundances turned out to show considerable scatter. This suggests that these abundance results are likely to suffer appreciable uncertainties, the reason for which is not clear but might be due to some kind of inadequate modeling for the atmospheric structure. Yet, paying attention to the fact that the relative abundance ratios between C, N, and O should be more reliable (because systematic errors may be canceled as lines of similar properties are used for these species), we could confirm a positive correlation between [O/C] (ranging from ~0 to ~+0.5 dex) and [N/C] (showing a larger spread from ~0 to ~+1 dex), which is reasonably consistent with the theoretical prediction. This observational detection of C deficiency as well as N enrichment in our program stars manifestly indicates that the dredge-up of H-burning product can take place before entering the red-giant stage, with its extent differing from star to star.
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