| 1. |
- Allard, F, et al.
(author)
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Model atmospheres and spectra: The role of dust
- 2003
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In: Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union (Brown Dwarfs). - 0074-1809. - 158381132X ; 211, s. 325-332
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Brown dwarf atmospheres form molecules, then high temperature condensates (corundum, titanates, silicates, and iron compounds), and then low temperature condensates (ices) as they cool down over time. These produce large opacities which govern entirely their spectral energy distribution. Just as it is important to know molecular opacities (TiO, H2O, CH4, etc.) with accuracy, it is imperative to understand the interplay of processes (e.g. condensation, sedimentation, coagulation, convection) that determines the radial and size distribution of grains. Limiting case models have shown that young, hot brown (L) dwarfs form dust mostly in equilibrium, while at much cooler stages (late T dwarfs) all high temperature condensates have sedimented out of their photospheres. But this process is gradual and all intermediate classes of brown dwarfs can partly be understood in terms of partial sedimentation of dust. With new models accounting for these processes, we describe the effects they may have upon brown dwarf spectral properties.
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| 2. |
- Arroyo-Torres, B., et al.
(author)
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VLTI/AMBER observations of cold giant stars: atmospheric structures and fundamental parameters
- 2014
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 566
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Aims. The main goal of this research is to determine the angular size and the atmospheric structures of cool giant stars (epsilon Oct, beta Peg, NU Pav, psi Peg, and gamma Hya) and to compare them with hydrostatic stellar model atmospheres, to estimate the fundamental parameters, and to obtain a better understanding of the circumstellar environment. Methods. We conducted spectro-interferometric observations of epsilon Oct, beta Peg, NU Pav, and psi Peg in the near-infrared K band (2.13-2.47 mu m), and gamma Hya (1.9-2.47 mu m) with the VLTI/AMBER instrument at medium spectral resolution (similar to 1500). To obtain the fundamental parameters, we compared our data with hydrostatic atmosphere models (PHOENIX). Results. We estimated the Rosseland angular diameters of epsilon Oct, beta Peg, NU Pav, psi Peg, and gamma Hya to be 11.66 +/- 1.50 mas, 16.87 +/- 1.00 mas, 13.03 +/- 1.75 mas, 6.31 +/- 0.35 mas, and 3.78 +/- 0.65 mas, respectively. Together with distances and bolometric fluxes (obtained from the literature), we estimated radii, effective temperatures, and luminosities of our targets. In the beta Peg visibility, we observed a molecular layer of CO with a size similar to that modeled with PHOENIX. However, there is an additional slope in absorption starting around 2.3 m. This slope is possibly due to a shell of H2O that is not modeled with PHOENIX (the size of the layer increases to about 5% with respect to the near-continuum level). The visibility of psi Peg shows a low increase in the CO bands, compatible with the modeling of the PHOENIX model. The visibility data of epsilon Oct, NU Pav, and gamma Hya show no increase in molecular bands. Conclusions. The spectra and visibilities predicted by the PHOENIX atmospheres agree with the spectra and the visibilities observed in our stars (except for beta Peg). This indicates that the opacity of the molecular bands is adequately included in the model, and the atmospheres of our targets have an extension similar to the modeled atmospheres. The atmosphere of beta Peg is more extended than that predicted by the model. The role of pulsations, if relevant in other cases and unmodeled by PHOENIX, therefore seems negligible for the atmospheric structures of our sample. The targets are located close to the red limits of the evolutionary tracks of the STAREVOL model, corresponding to masses between 1 M-circle dot and 3 M-circle dot. The STAREVOL model fits the position of our stars in the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram better than the Ekstrom model does. STAREVOL includes thermohaline mixing, unlike the Ekstrom model, and complements the latter for intermediate-mass stars.
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| 3. |
- Arroyo-Torres, B., et al.
(author)
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VLTI/AMBER Studies of the Atmospheric Structure and Fundamental Parameters of Red Giant and Supergiant Stars
- 2015
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In: WHY GALAXIES CARE ABOUT AGB STARS III. - : ASTRONOMICAL SOC PACIFIC. - 9781583818794 ; , s. 91-96
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- We present recent near-IR interferometric studies of red giant and super giant stars, which are aimed at obtaining information on the structure of the atmospheric layers and constraining the fundamental parameters of these objects. The observed visibilities of six red supergiants (RSGs), and also of one of the five red giants observed, indicate large extensions of the molecular layers, as previously observed for Mira stars. These extensions are not predicted by hydrostatic PHOENIX model atmospheres, hydrodynamical (RED) simulations of stellar convection, or self-excited pulsation models. All these models based on parameters of RSGs lead to atmospheric structures that are too compact compared to our observations. We discuss how alternative processes might explain the atmospheric extensions for these objects. As the continuum appears to be largely free of contamination by molecular layers, we can estimate reliable Rosseland angular radii for our stars. Together with distances and bolometric fluxes, we estimate the effective temperatures and luminosities of our targets, locate them in the HR diagram, and compare their positions to recent evolutionary tracks.
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| 4. |
- Arroyo-Torres, B., et al.
(author)
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VLTI/AMBER studies of the atmospheric structure and fundamental parameters of red giant and supergiant stars
- 2015
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In: Why Galaxies Care about AGB Stars III: A Closer Look in Space and Time. Proceedings of ASP Conference Series. - 9781583818794 ; 497, s. 91-96
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- We present recent near-IR interferometric studies of red giant and supergiant stars, which are aimed at obtaining information on the structure of the atmospheric layers and at constraining the fundamental parameters of these objects. The observed visibilities of the red supergiants (RSGs) and also of one red giant indicate large extensions of the molecular layers, as those previously observed for Mira stars. These extensions are not predicted by hydrostatic PHOENIX model atmospheres, hydrodynamical (RHD) simulations of stellar convection, or self-excited pulsation models. All these models based on parameters of RSGs lead to atmospheric structures that are too compact compared to our observations. We discuss how alternative processes might explain the atmospheric extensions for these objects. As the continuum appears to be largely free of contamination by molecular layers, we can estimate reliable angular Rosseland radii of our stars. Together with distances and bolometric fluxes, we estimate the effective temperatures and luminosities of our targets, locate them in the HR diagram, and compare their positions to recent evolutionary tracks.
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| 5. |
- Arroyo-Torres, B., et al.
(author)
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What causes the large extensions of red supergiant atmospheres? : Comparisons of interferometric observations with 1D hydrostatic, 3D convection, and 1D pulsating model atmospheres
- 2015
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 575
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Aims. This research has two main goals. First, we present the atmospheric structure and the fundamental parameters of three red supergiants (RSGs), increasing the sample of RSGs observed by near-infrared spectro-interferometry. Additionally, we test possible mechanisms that may explain the large observed atmospheric extensions of RSGs. Methods. We carried out spectro-interferometric observations of the.RSGs V602 Car, EID 95687, and EID 183589 in the near-infrared K-band (1.92-2.47 mu m) with the VLTI/AMBER instrument at medium spectral resolution (R similar to 1500). To categorize and comprehend the extended atmospheres, we compared our observational results to predictions by available hydrostatic PHOENIX, available 3D convection, and new 1D self-excited pulsation models of RSGs. Results. Our near-infrared flux spectra of V602 Car, HD 95687, and HD 183589 are well reproduced by the PHOENIX model atmospheres. The continuum visibility values are consistent with a limb-darkened disk as predicted by the PHOENIX models, allowing us to determine the angular diameter and the fundamental parameters of our sources. Nonetheless, in the case of V602 Car and HD 95686, the PHOENIX model visibilities do not predict the large observed extensions of molecular layers, most remarkably in the CO bands. Likewise, the 3D convection models and the ID pulsation models with typical parameters of RSGs lead to compact atmospheric structures as well, which are similar to the structure of the hydrostatic PHOENIX models. They can also not explain the observed decreases in the visibilities and thus the large atmospheric molecular extensions. The full sample of our RSGs indicates increasing observed atmospheric extensions with increasing luminosity and decreasing surface gravity, and no correlation with effective temperature or variability amplitude. Conclusions. The location of our RSG sources in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram is contirm.ed to be consistent with the red limits of recent evolutionary tracks. The observed extensions of the atmospheric layers of our sample of RSGs are comparable to those of Mira stars. This phenomenon is not predicted by any of the considered model atmospheres including as 311) convection and new 1D pulsation models of.RSGs. This confirms that neither convection nor pulsation alone can levitate the molecular atmospheres of.RSGs. Our observed correlation of atmospheric extension with luminosity supports a scenario of radiative acceleration on Doppler-shifted molecular lines.
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| 6. |
- Kucinskas, Arunas, et al.
(author)
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Broad-band photometric colors and effective temperature calibrations for late-type giants - I. Z=0.02
- 2005
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In: Astronomy & Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 442:1, s. 281-308
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present new synthetic broad-band photometric colors for late-type giants based on synthetic spectra calculated with the PHOENIX model atmosphere code. The grid covers effective temperatures T-eff = 3000... 5000 K, gravities log g = - 0.5... + 3.5, and metallicities [M/H] = + 0.5... - 4.0. We show that individual broad-band photometric colors are strongly affected by model parameters such as molecular opacities, gravity, microturbulent velocity, and stellar mass. Our exploratory 3D modeling of a prototypical late-type giant shows that convection has a noticeable effect on the photometric colors too, as it alters significantly both the vertical and horizontal thermal structures in the outer atmosphere. The differences between colors calculated with full 3D hydrodynamical and 1D model atmospheres are significant (e.g.,. (V- K) similar to 0.2 mag), translating into offsets in effective temperature of up to similar to 70 K. For a sample of 74 late-type giants in the Solar neighborhood, with interferometric effective temperatures and broad-band photometry available in the literature, we compare observed colors with a new PHOENIX grid of synthetic photometric colors, as well as with photometric colors calculated with the MARCS and ATLAS model atmosphere codes. We find good agreement of the new synthetic colors with observations and published T-eff-color and color - color relations, especially in the T-eff ( V - K), T-eff-(J - K) and (J - K) -(V - K) planes. Deviations from the observed trends in the T-eff-color planes are generally within +/- 100 K for T-eff = 3500 to 4800 K. Synthetic colors calculated with different stellar atmosphere models agree to +/- 100 K, within a large range of effective temperatures and gravities. The comparison of the observed and synthetic spectra of late-type giants shows that discrepancies result from the differences both in the strengths of various spectral lines/bands ( especially those of molecular bands, such as TiO, H2O, CO) and the continuum level. Finally, we derive several new T-eff - log g - color relations for late-type giants at solar-metallicity (valid for T-eff = 3500 to 4800 K), based both on the observed effective temperatures and colors of the nearby giants, and synthetic colors produced with PHOENIX, MARCS and ATLAS model atmospheres.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Ludwig, Hans-Günter, et al.
(author)
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Energy transport, overshoot, and mixing in the atmospheres of M-type main- and pre-main-sequence objects
- 2006
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In: Astronomy & Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 459:2, s. 599-612
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We constructed hydrodynamical model atmospheres for mid M-type main-,as well as pre-main-sequence (PMS) objects. Despite the complex chemistry encountered in these cool atmospheres a reasonably accurate representation of the radiative transfer is possible, even in the context of time-dependent and three-dimensional models. The models provide detailed information about the morphology of M-type granulation and statistical properties of the convective surface flows. In particular, we determined the efficiency of the convective energy transport, and the efficiency of mixing by convective overshoot. The convective transport efficiency was expressed in terms of an equivalent mixing-length parameter alpha(MLT) in the formulation of mixing-length theory (MLT) given by Mihalas (1978). aMLT amounts to values around approximate to 2 for matching the entropy of the deep, adiabatically stratified regions of the convective envelope, and lies between 2.5 and 3.0 for matching the thermal structure of the deep photosphere. For current spectral analysis of PMS objects this implies that MLT models based on alpha(MLT) = 2.0 overestimate the effective temperature by 100 K and surface gravities by 0.25 dex. The average thermal structure of the formally convectively stable layers is little affected by convective overshoot and wave heating, i.e., stays close to radiative equilibrium conditions. Our models suggest that the rate of mixing by convective overshoot declines exponentially with geometrical distance to the Schwarzschild stability boundary. It increases at given effective temperature with decreasing gravitational acceleration.
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| 10. |
- Ludwig, Hans-Günter, et al.
(author)
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Numerical simulations of surface convection in a late M-dwarf
- 2002
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In: Astronomy & Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 395:1, s. 99-115
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Based on detailed 2D and 3D numerical radiation-hydrodynamics (RHD)simulations of time-dependent compressible convection, we have studiedthe dynamics and thermal structure of the convective surface layers of aprototypical late-type M-dwarf (Teffapprox 2800 K, log g=5.0,solar chemical composition). The RHD models predict stellar granulationqualitatively similar to the familiar solar pattern. Quantitatively, thegranular cells show a convective turn-over time scale of ~100 s, and ahorizontal scale of 80 km; the relative intensity contrast of thegranular pattern amounts to 1.1%, and root-mean-square verticalvelocities reach 240 m s-1 at maximum. Deviations fromradiative equilibrium in the higher, formally convectively stableatmospheric layers are found to be insignificant allowing a reliablemodeling of the atmosphere with 1D standard model atmospheres. Amixing-length parameter of alphaMLT = 2.1 provides the bestrepresentation of the average thermal structure of the RHD modelatmosphere while alternative values are found when fitting theasymptotic entropy encountered in deeper layers of the stellar envelope(alphaMLT = 1.5), or when matching the vertical velocity(alphaMLT = 3.5). The close correspondence between RHD andstandard model atmospheres implies that presently existing discrepanciesbetween observed and predicted stellar colors in the M-dwarf regimecannot be traced back to an inadequate treatment of convection in the 1Dstandard models. The RHD models predict a modest extension of theconvectively mixed region beyond the formal Schwarzschild stabilityboundary which provides hints for the distribution of dust grains incooler (brown dwarf) atmospheres.
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| 11. |
- Morales, J. C., et al.
(author)
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A giant exoplanet orbiting a very-low-mass star challenges planet formation models
- 2019
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In: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 365:6460, s. 1441-1445
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Surveys have shown that super-Earth and Neptune-mass exoplanets are more frequent than gas giants around low-mass stars, as predicted by the core accretion theory of planet formation. We report the discovery of a giant planet around the very-low-mass star GJ 3512, as determined by optical and near-infrared radial-velocity observations. The planet has a minimum mass of 0.46 Jupiter masses, very high for such a small host star, and an eccentric 204-day orbit. Dynamical models show that the high eccentricity is most likely due to planet-planet interactions. We use simulations to demonstrate that the GJ 3512 planetary system challenges generally accepted formation theories, and that it puts constraints on the planet accretion and migration rates. Disk instabilities may be more efficient in forming planets than previously thought.
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| 12. |
- Wedemeyer, S., et al.
(author)
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Solar Science with the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array-A New View of Our Sun
- 2016
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In: Space Science Reviews. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0038-6308 .- 1572-9672. ; 200:1-4, s. 1-73
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is a new powerful tool for observing the Sun at high spatial, temporal, and spectral resolution. These capabilities can address a broad range of fundamental scientific questions in solar physics. The radiation observed by ALMA originates mostly from the chromosphere-a complex and dynamic region between the photosphere and corona, which plays a crucial role in the transport of energy and matter and, ultimately, the heating of the outer layers of the solar atmosphere. Based on first solar test observations, strategies for regular solar campaigns are currently being developed. State-of-the-art numerical simulations of the solar atmosphere and modeling of instrumental effects can help constrain and optimize future observing modes for ALMA. Here we present a short technical description of ALMA and an overview of past efforts and future possibilities for solar observations at submillimeter and millimeter wavelengths. In addition, selected numerical simulations and observations at other wavelengths demonstrate ALMA's scientific potential for studying the Sun for a large range of science cases.
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