Related papers: The connection between mass loss and nucleosynthes…
It is still an unresolved problem how much AGB stars can contribute to the overall gas and dust enrichment processes in the interstellar medium within galaxies. We start tackling this problem, by using our test case observational data from…
A long debated issue concerning the nucleosynthesis of neutron-rich elements in Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars is the identification of the neutron source. We report intermediate-mass (4 to 8 solar masses) AGB stars in our Galaxy that…
Using recent results on the operation of turbulent dynamos, we show that a turbulent dynamo can amplify a large scale magnetic field in the envelopes of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. We propose that a slow rotation of the AGB…
Thermally-Pulsing Asymptotic Giant Branch (TP-AGB) stars are relatively short lived (less than a few Myr), yet their cool effective temperatures, high luminosities, efficient mass-loss and dust production can dramatically effect the…
We present asymptotic giant branch (AGB) models of solar metallicity, to allow the interpretation of observations of Galactic AGB stars, whose distances should be soon available after the first release of the Gaia catalogue. We find an…
A proper treatment of the non-equilibrium dust formation process is crucial in models of AGB star winds. In this paper the micro-physics of this process is treated in detail, with an emphasis on the effects of drift (drift models). We…
Colour-M/L (mass-to-light) relations are a popular recipe to derive stellar mass in external galaxies. Stellar mass estimates often rely on near infrared (NIR) photometry, considered an optimal tracer since it is little affected by dust and…
Low and intermediate mass stars with super solar metallicities comprise a known portion of the universe. Yet yields for asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars with metallicities greater than $Z=0.04$ do not exist in the literature. This…
Mass loss is a fundamental, observationally well-established feature of AGB stars but many aspects of this process still remain to be understood. To date, self-consistent dynamical models of dust-driven winds reproducing the observed…
I study some effects of aspherical mass loss during the last stages of the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) on the appearance of proto planetary nebulae (PNs) and young PNs. The aspherical mass loss can be small scale inhomogeneities, and/or…
The asymptotic giant branch (AGB) phase is the penultimate stage of evolution for low- and intermediate-mass stars. AGB star outflows inject a significant amount of material into the interstellar medium (ISM), seeding new star formation.…
The study of the luminosity contribution from thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch (TP-AGB) stars to the stellar populations of galaxies is crucial to determine their physical parameters (e.g., stellar mass and age). We use a sample of…
(abbreviated) Measuring the surface abundances of AGB stars is an important tool for studying the effects of nucleosynthesis and mixing in the interior of low- to intermediate mass stars during their final evolutionary phases. The…
We establish new constraints on the intermediate-mass range of the initial-final mass relation by studying white dwarfs in four young star clusters, and apply the results to study the evolution of stars on the thermally pulsing asymptotic…
We summarise the main properties of Asymptotic Giant Branch stars, including their structure, evolution and nucleosynthesis. The main physical mechanisms are outlined, as are the uncertainties. In keeping with the multi-disciplinary nature…
We present an evolutionary sequence of a low mass star from the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) through its post-AGB stage, during which its surface chemical composition changes from hydrogen-rich to strongly hydrogen-deficient as consequence…
We used a new generation of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stellar models that include dust formation in the stellar winds to find the links between evolutionary models and the observed properties of a homogeneous sample of Large Magellanic…
Contrary to previous expectations, recent evolutionary models of zero-metallicity stars show that the development of mixing episodes at the beginning of the AGB phase allows low- and intermediate-mass stars to experience thermal pulses. If…
Bipolar planetary nebulae (PNe), as well as extreme elliptical PNe are formed through the influence of a stellar companion. But half of all PN progenitors are not influenced by any stellar companion, and, as I show here, are expected to…
Gravitational contraction always generates a radially directed momentum flux. A particularly simple example occurs in the electron-degenerate cores of AGB stars, which contract steadily under the addition of helium ashes from shell hydrogen…