Related papers: The Cosmic Crystallinity Conundrum: Clues from IRA…

We present dust yields for asymptotic giant branch (AGB) and super--asymptotic giant branch (SAGB) stars of solar metallicity. Stars with initial mass $1.5~M_{\odot} \leq M_{\rm ini} \leq 3~M_{\odot}$ reach the carbon star stage during the…

The DUSTiNGS survey (DUST in Nearby Galaxies with Spitzer) is a 3.6 and 4.5 micron imaging survey of 50 nearby dwarf galaxies designed to identify dust-producing Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars and massive stars. Using two epochs,…

We present AKARI/IRC and Spitzer/IRS observations of a selected sample of galactic IRAS sources considered to be heavily obscured AGB/post-AGB stars based on their characteristic IRAS colours. All of them are completely invisible in the…

Dust grains forming in the extended atmospheres of AGB stars are critical for the heavy mass loss of these cool luminous giants, as they provide radiative acceleration for the stellar winds. Characteristic mid-IR spectral features indicate…

Using a revised version of the catalog of AGB stars by Suh & Kwon (2009), we present various infrared two-colour diagrams (2CDs) for 3003 O-rich, 1168 C-rich, 362 S-type and 35 silicate carbon stars in our Galaxy. For each object in the new…

We present spectra of 12 of the reddest, and hence dustiest, S stars in the Milky Way, observed with the FORCAST grisms on SOFIA. S stars are asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars with C/O$\sim$1, so their molecular and dust chemistries are…

We investigate whether stellar dust sources i.e. asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and supernovae (SNe) can account for dust detected in 5<z<6.5 quasars (QSOs). We calculate the required dust yields per AGB star and per SN using the dust…

We present high resolution optical spectroscopic observations of IRAS 09425-6040, a peculiar, extremely red, C-rich AGB star showing prominent O-rich dust features in its ISO infrared spectrum attributed to crystalline silicates. Our…

As part of a reanalysis of galactic Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars at infrared (IR) wavelengths, we discuss a sample (357) of carbon stars for which mass loss rates, near-IR photometry and distance estimates exist. For 252 sources we…

We report interferometric observations of the semi-regular variable star RS CrB, a red giant with strong silicate emission features. The data were among the first long baseline mid-infrared stellar fringes obtained between the Keck…

Two distinct scenarios for the origin of the ~ 4 \times 10^8 M\odot of dust observed in the high-redshift (z = 6.4) quasar J1148+5251 have been proposed. The first assumes that this galaxy is much younger than the age of the universe at…

We compare theoretical dust yields for stars with mass 1 Msun < mstar < 8 Msun, and metallicities 0.001 < Z < 0.008 with observed dust production rates (DPR) by carbon- rich and oxygen-rich Asymptotic Giant Branch (C-AGB and O-AGB) stars in…

We report the detection of strong absorption and weak emission features in the 4--27 micron Spitzer-IRS spectrum of the distant ultraluminous infrared galaxy (ULIRG) IRAS F00183--7111 (z=0.327). The absorption features of CO2 and CO gas,…

We present a diagnostic tool to determine the forsterite abundance of the dust ejected by AGB stars. Our method is based on a comparison between the observed strength of spectral bands of forsterite and model calculations. We show that the…

We used models of thermally-pulsing asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, that also describe the dust-formation process in the wind, to interpret the combination of near- and mid-infrared photometric data of the dwarf galaxy IC 1613. This is…

The survey for DUST In Nearby Galaxies with Spitzer (DUSTiNGS) has identified hundreds of candidate dust-producing Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars in several nearby metal-poor galaxies. We have obtained multi-epoch follow-up…

We investigate the occurrence of crystalline silicates in oxygen-rich evolved stars across a range of metallicities and mass-loss rates. It has been suggested that the crystalline silicate feature strength increases with increasing…

Absorption lines in the spectra of distant quasars whose sightlines pass through foreground galaxies provide a valuable tool to probe the dust and gas compositions of the interstellar medium (ISM) in galaxies. The first evidence of silicate…

The dust-forming population of AGB stars and their input to the interstellar dust budget of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) are studied with evolutionary dust models with the main goals (1) to investigate how the amount and composition of…

Mass loss in oxygen-rich asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars remains poorly understood, as the dust detected around them appears too transparent to drive winds through absorption alone. The current paradigm invokes outflows driven by photon…