Related papers: Molecular processes from the AGB to the PN stage
Small organic molecules are thought to provide building blocks for the formation of complex interstellar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). However, the underlying chemical mechanisms remain unclear, particularly concerning the role…
Abundance determinations in planetary nebulae (PNe) are crucial for understanding stellar evolution and the chemical evolution of the host galaxy. We discuss the complications involved when the presence of a metal-rich phase is suspected in…
We have investigated the dynamical interaction of low- and-intermediate mass stars (from 1 to 5 Msun) with their interstellar medium (ISM). In this first paper, we examine the structures generated by the stellar winds during the Asymptotic…
The abundance of O in planetary nebulae (PNe) has been historically used as a metallicity indicator of the interstellar medium (ISM) where they originated; e.g., it has been widely used to study metallicity gradients in our Galaxy and…
The dusty winds of cool evolved stars are a major contributor of the newly synthesised material enriching the Galaxy and future generations of stars. However, the details of the physics and chemistry behind dust formation and wind launching…
The study of the chemical composition of Planetary Nebulae in external galaxies is of paramount importance in the fields of stellar evolution and of the chemical enrichment history of galaxies. In the last years a number of spectroscopic…
Stars with masses between 1 and 8 solar masses (M$_\odot$) lose large amounts of material in the form of gas and dust in the late stages of stellar evolution, during their Asymptotic Giant Branch phase. Such stars supply up to 35% of the…
A revival over the past two decades in planetary nebula (PN) morphological studies springs from a combination of factors, including the advent of wide-area, high dynamic range detectors; the growing archives of high resolution images from…
The majority of the inhomogeneities in the chemical composition of Globular Cluster (GC) stars appear due to primordial enrichment. The most studied model today claims that the ejecta of Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars of high mass…
The determination of heavy element abundances from planetary nebula (PN) spectra provides an exciting opportunity to study the nucleosynthesis occurring in the progenitor asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star. We perform post-processing…
We present stellar evolutionary sequences for asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars in the Magellanic Cloud clusters NGC 1978, NGC 1846 and NGC 419. The new stellar models for the three clusters match the observed effective temperatures on…
Low- and intermediate mass stars experience a significant mass loss during the last phases of their evolution, which obscures them in a vast, dusty envelope. Although it has long been thought this envelope is generally spherically symmetric…
The chemical evolution of the Galaxy is followed for the elements affected by neutron capture, in particular for those in the atomic number range 56 to 63 (Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm and Eu). Neutrons by the major 13^C source, released in…
Light and intermediate nuclei as well as s-process elements have been detected in presolar grains and in evolved red giants. The abundances of some of these nuclei cannot be accounted for by canonical stellar models and require…
Planetary nebulae (PNe) are circumstellar gas ejected during an intense mass-losing phase in the the lives of asymptotic giant branch stars. PNe have a stunning variety of shapes, most of which are not spherically symmetric. The debate over…
New stellar models with mass ranging between 4 and 8 Mo, Z=0 and Y=0.23 are presented. The models have been evolved from the pre Main Sequence up to the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB). At variance with previous claims, we find that these…
The hydrogen-deficiency in extremely hot post-AGB stars of spectral class PG1159 is probably caused by a (very) late helium-shell flash or a AGB final thermal pulse that consumes the hydrogen envelope, exposing the usually-hidden intershell…
The recent progress in high-spatial-resolution techniques, spanning wavelengths from the visual to the radio regime, is leading to new valuable insights into the complex dynamical atmospheres of Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars and their…
We review the final stages of stellar evolution, supernova properties, and chemical yields as a function of the progenitor's mass M. (1) 8 - 10 Ms stars are super-AGB stars when the O+Ne+Mg core collapses due to electron capture. These…
The transition from the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) to the final white dwarf (WD) stage is arguably the least understood phase in the evolution of single low- and intermediate-mass stars ($0.8 \lesssim M_{\rm ZAMS}/M_\odot\lesssim…