No Arabic abstract
We present a chemical abundance analysis on the basis of high signal-to- noise and high resolution spectra for 12 stars of our newly defined sample. The selection criterion for the stars of this sample was their position in the `RV Tauri box in the [12]-[25], [25]-[60] two-colour diagram. An additional requisite was the presence of a near-IR excess. We found that the photospheres of nine stars are affected by the depletion process. Since the most likely origin of the near-IR excess is a disc, this strongly suggests that the phenomenon of depletion and the presence of a disc are linked. Among the depleted stars we find different depletion patterns. In seven stars elements with a condensation temperature below 1500 K are not or only slightly affected. Large underabundances are measured only for most elements with a condensation temperature above 1500 K.
Many disc-type post-asymptotic giant branch (post-AGB) stars are chemically peculiar, showing underabundances of refractory elements in their photospheres that correlate with condensation temperature. The aim of this paper is to investigate how accretion from a circumbinary disc can cause this phenomenon of depletion and how this impacts the evolution of post-AGB stars. We used the texttt{MESA} code to evolve stars in the post-AGB phase, while including accretion of metal-poor gas. We compared the models to a sample of 58 observed disc-type post-AGB stars with chemical abundance data. For each of these stars, we estimated the luminosity and the mass using the Gaia distance. We modelled the accretion rate onto the binary from a viscously evolving disc for a range of initial accretion rates and disc masses. We find that large initial accretion rates ($gtrsim 3times10^{-7}$ $M_odot$/yr) and large initial disc masses ($sim10^{-2}$ $M_odot$) are needed to reproduce the observed depleted post-AGB stars. Based on these high accretion rates, the evolution timescale of post-AGB stars can be significantly extended by a factor between two and five. We distinguish depletion patterns that are unsaturated (plateau profile) from those that are saturated, and we expect that post-red giant branch (post-RGB) stars are much more likely to show an unsaturated abundance pattern compared to post-AGB stars. Finally, because of the slower evolution of the low-mass post-RGB stars, we find that these systems can become depleted at lower effective temperatures ($< 5000$ K). We conclude that accretion from a circumbinary disc successfully accounts for the chemical peculiarity of post-AGB stars.
Binary post-asymptotic giant branch (post-AGB) stars have orbital periods in the range of 100--2500 days in eccentric orbits. They are surrounded by circumbinary dusty discs. They are the immediate result of unconstrained binary interaction processes. Their observed orbital properties do not correspond to model predictions: Neither the periods nor the high eccentricities are expected. Our goal is to investigate if interactions between a binary and its circumbinary disc during the post-AGB phase can result in their eccentric orbits, while simultaneously explaining the chemical anomaly known as depletion. For this paper, we selected three binaries (EP Lyr, RU Cen, HD 46703) with well-constrained orbits, luminosities, and chemical abundances. We used the MESA code to evolve post-AGB models, while including the accretion of metal-poor gas. This allows us to constrain the evolution of the stars and study the impact of circumbinary discs on the orbital properties of the models. We investigate the effect of torques produced by gas inside the binary cavity and the effect of Lindblad resonances on the orbit, while also including the tidal interaction following the equilibrium tide model. We find that none of our models are able to explain the high orbital eccentricities of the binaries in our sample. The accretion torque does not significantly impact the binary orbit, while Lindblad resonances can pump the eccentricity up to only $e approx 0.2$. At higher eccentricities, the tidal interaction becomes too strong, so the high observed eccentricities cannot be reproduced. However, even if we assume tides to be ineffective, the eccentricities in our models do not exceed $approx 0.25$. We conclude that either our knowledge of disc-binary interactions is still incomplete, or the binaries must have left their phase of strong interaction in an eccentric orbit.
There is ample evidence for strong magnetic fields in the envelopes of (Post-)Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars as well as supergiant stars. The origin and role of these fields are still unclear. This paper updates the current status of magnetic field observations around AGB, post-AGB stars and describes their possible role during these stages of evolution. The discovery of magnetically aligned dust around a supergiant star is also highlighted. In our search for the origin of the magnetic fields, recent observations show the signatures of possible magnetic activity and rotation, indicating that the magnetic fields might be intrinsic to the AGB stars.
Obscured by their circumstellar dusty envelopes post-AGB stars emit a large fraction of their energy in the infrared and thus, infrared sky surveys like IRAS were essential for discoveries of post-AGBs in the past. Now, with the AKARI infrared sky survey we can extend our knowledge about the late stages of stellar evolution. The long-term goal of our work is to define new photometric criteria to distinguish new post-AGB candidates from the AKARI data.
During the last years, many observational studies have revealed that binaries play an active role in the shaping of non spherical planetary nebulae. We review the different works that lead to the direct or indirect evidence for the presence of binary companions during the Asymptotic Giant Branch, proto-Planetary Nebula and Planetary Nebula phases. We also discuss how these binaries can influence the stellar evolution and possible future directions in the field.