| 1. |
- Paladini, C., et al.
(författare)
-
The VLTI/MIDI view on the inner mass loss of evolved stars from the Herschel MESS sample
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 600
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. The mass-loss process from evolved stars is a key ingredient for our understanding of many fields of astrophysics, including stellar evolution and the chemical enrichment of the interstellar medium (ISM) via stellar yields. Nevertheless, many questions are still unsolved, one of which is the geometry of the mass-loss process. Aims. Taking advantage of the results from the Herschel Mass loss of Evolved StarS (MESS) programme, we initiated a coordinated effort to characterise the geometry of mass loss from evolved red giants at various spatial scales. Methods. For this purpose we used the MID-infrared interferometric Instrument (MIDI) to resolve the inner envelope of 14 asymptotic giant branch stars (AGBs) in the MESS sample. In this contribution we present an overview of the interferometric data collected within the frame of our Large Programme, and we also add archive data for completeness. We studied the geometry of the inner atmosphere by comparing the observations with predictions from different geometric models. Results. Asymmetries are detected for the following five stars: R Leo, RT Vir, ?1Gruis, omi Ori, and R Crt. All the objects are O-rich or S-type, suggesting that asymmetries in the N band are more common among stars with such chemistry. We speculate that this fact is related to the characteristics of the dust grains. Except for one star, no interferometric variability is detected, i.e. the changes in size of the shells of non-mira stars correspond to changes of the visibility of less than 10%. The observed spectral variability confirms previous findings from the literature. The detection of dust in our sample follows the location of the AGBs in the IRAS colour-colour diagram: More dust is detected around oxygen-rich stars in region II and in the carbon stars in region VII. The SiC dust feature does not appear in the visibility spectrum of the U Ant and S Sct, which are two carbon stars with detached shells. This finding has implications for the theory of SiC dust formation.
|
|
| 2. |
- Paladini, C., et al.
(författare)
-
To be or not to be asymmetric? VLTI and the mass loss geometry of red giants
- 2012
-
Ingår i: Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering. - : SPIE. - 0277-786X .- 1996-756X. - 9780819491466 ; 8445, s. Art. no. 84451R-
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The mass-loss process is a key ingredient for our understanding in many fields of astrophysics, including stellar evolution and the enrichment of the interstellar medium (ISM) via stellar yields. We combined the capability of the VLTI/MIDI and VLT/VISIR instruments with very recent Herschel/PACS observations to characterize the geometry of mass loss from evolved red giants on the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) at various scales. This paper describes the sample of objects, the observing strategy, the tool for the interpretation, and preliminary MIDI results for two targets: U Ant and θ Aps.
|
|
| 3. |
- Paladini, C., et al.
(författare)
-
VLTI/MIDI Large Program: AGB Stars at Different Spatial Scales
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Conference on Why Galaxies Care About AGB Stars III: A Closer Look in Space and Time, Vienna, Austria, JUL 28-AUG 01, 2014. - 9781583818794 ; 497, s. 97-102
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- We have observed a sample of Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars from the Herschel Mass-loss of Evolved StarS (MESS) program with the VLTI MID infrared Interferometric instrument (MIDI). The program aims at providing insight to the atmospheres of those stars, to be able to understand the role of the mass-loss process at different spatial scales. We obtained visibilities and spectra of fourteen objects with different chemistries and variability classes. These observations, together with data we retrieved from the archive, allow us to characterize not only the geometry of the dust forming region, but in some cases also the time variability in the N band. As previously reported in the literature, we confirm the detection of spectroscopic but not interferometric variability. This result has implications on the size of the structures involved in the dust-formation process. We also report two cases of asymmetric structures; the nature of these structures will be clearly identified only with the second generation VLTI instrument MATISSE.
|
|
| 4. |
|
|
| 5. |
|
|
