Related papers: The evolutionary state of Miras with changing puls…
Binary post-asymptotic giant branch (post-AGB) stars are thought to be the products of a strong but poorly-understood interaction during the AGB phase. The aim of this contribution is to update the orbital elements of a sample of galactic…
The period-change behaviour of 134 RR Lyrae stars in the globular cluster Messier 3 (M3) is investigated on the ~120-year time base of the photometric observations. The mean period-change rates (\beta \approx 0.01 d Myr^-1) of the…
Pulsating stars, such as Cepheids and RR Lyrae, offer us a window to measure and study changes due to stellar evolution. In this work, we study the former by calculating a set of evolutionary tracks of stars with an initial mass of 4 to 7…
A parameter study of the spectral evolution of a typical post-AGB star, with particular emphasis on the evolution of the infrared colours, is presented. The models are based on the latest evolutionary tracks for hydrogen burning post-AGB…
Aims: To investigate variability and to model the pulsational behaviour of AGB variables in the intermediate-age LMC cluster NGC 1846. Methods: Our own photometric monitoring has been combined with data from the MACHO archive to detect 22…
We obtained a total of 20 near-infrared K-band spectro-interferometric snapshot observations of the Mira variables o Cet, R Leo, R Aqr, X Hya, W Vel, and R Cnc with a spectral resolution of about 1500. We compared observed flux and…
Context. Mass loss is an important property in evolution models of massive stars. As up to 90% of the massive stars have a visual or spectroscopic companion and many of them exhibit mass exchange, mass-loss rates can be acquired through the…
The near and mid-infrared characteristics of large amplitude, Mira, variables in Local Group dwarf irregular galaxies (LMC, NGC 6822, IC 1613, Sgr dIG) are described. Two aspects of these variables are discussed. First, the short period (P…
We present ten years of new photometric monitoring of the light variability of five evolved stars with strong mid-infrared emission from surrounding dust. Three are known carbon-rich proto-planetary nebulae (PPNe) with F$-$G spectral types;…
Despite numerous efforts, the transition from Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars to Planetary Nebulae (PN) is a poorly understood phase of stellar evolution. We have therefore carried out interferometric (VLA) radio observations of a…
The thermally-pulsing asymptotic giant branch (TP-AGB) experienced by low- and intermediate-mass stars is one of the most uncertain phases of stellar evolution and the models need to be calibrated with the aid of observations. To this…
Stars with unusual properties can provide a wealth of information about rare stages of stellar evolution and exotic physics. However, determining the true nature of peculiar stars is often difficult. In this work, we conduct a systematic…
Fourteen stars from a sample of Magellanic Cloud objects selected to have a mid-infrared flux excess have been found to also show TiO bands in emission. The mid-infrared dust emission and the TiO band emission indicate that these stars have…
HIPPARCOS trigonometrical parallaxes make it possible to compare the location of Tc-rich and Tc-poor S stars in the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram: Tc-rich S stars are found to be cooler and intrinsically brighter than Tc-poor S stars.…
The nature of the accreting companion to Mira --- the prototypical pulsating asymptotic giant branch star --- has been a matter of debate for more than 25 years. Here we use a quantitative analysis of the rapid optical brightness variations…
The mass loss properties of carbon AGB stars are not very well constrained at present. A variety of empirical or theoretical formulae with different parameterisations are available in the literature and the agreement between them is…
The luminosities and periods of obscured AGB stars in the LMC are discussed using a combination of ISO and ground-based infrared photometry. The bolometric luminosities of these stars fall close to an extrapolation of the period-luminosity…
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…
By using self-consistent dynamic model atmospheres which simulate pulsation-enhanced dust-driven winds of AGB stars we studied in detail the influence of (i) pulsations of the stellar interiors, and (ii) the development of dusty stellar…
In order to extend our previous studies of the unexplained phenomenon of cyclic amplitude variations in pulsating red giants, we have used the AAVSO time-series analysis package VSTAR to analyze long-term AAVSO visual observations of 50…