Related papers: The wind of the M-type AGB star RT Virginis probed…
New dynamical models for dust-driven winds of oxygen-rich AGB stars are presented which include frequency-dependent Monte Carlo radiative transfer by means of a sparse opacity distribution technique and a time-dependent treatment of the…
We present a mid-IR interferometric survey of the circumstellar environment of a specific class of post-Asymptotic Giant Branch (post-AGB) binaries. For this class the presence of a compact dusty disk has been postulated on the basis of…
Radio and infrared interferometry of SiO maser stars provide complementary information on the atmosphere and circumstellar environment at comparable spatial resolution. Here, we present the latest results on the atmospheric structure and…
Context: Stars evolving through the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) phase provide significant feedback to their host system, in form of both gas enriched in nuclear-burning products and dust formed in their winds, which they eject into the…
The winds observed around AGB stars are generally attributed to radiation pressure on dust formed in the dynamical atmospheres of these long-period variables. The composition of wind-driving grains is affected by a feedback between their…
Context. AGB stars go through a process of strong mass-loss that involves pulsations of the atmosphere, which extends to a region where the conditions are adequate for dust grains to form. Radiation pressure acts on these grains which,…
The outflows of oxygen-rich asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars are thought to be driven by radiation pressure by photon scattering on grains with sizes of tenths of microns. The details of the formation of dust in the extended atmospheres…
We compare observations of AGB stars and predictions of the Elitzur & Ivezic (2001) steady-state radiatively driven dusty wind model. The model results are described by a set of similarity functions of a single independent variable, and…
The late stellar evolutionary phases of low and intermediate-mass stars are strongly constrained by their mass-loss rates. The wind surrounding cool evolved stars frequently shows non-spherical features, thought to be due to an unseen…
Originating in different depths of the very extended atmospheres of AGB stars, various molecular spectral lines observable in the near-infrared show diverse behaviours and can be used to probe atmospheric dynamics throughout the outer…
The material lost through stellar winds of Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars is one of the main contributors to the chemical enrichment of galaxies. The general hypothesis of the mass loss mechanism of AGB winds is a combination of…
The goal of this study is to reconstruct the evolution and the dust formation processes during the final AGB phases of a sample of carbon-rich, post-AGB Galactic stars, with particular attention to the determination of the past mass-loss…
We present the discovery of a huge (19$\arcmin$ $\times$ 16$\arcmin$) dust ring surrounding a bright (V = 10.60) red star. The dust ring has, at D = 700 pc, a diameter of 4 pc, and a central hole of ~1.5 pc across. Part of the shell is also…
We present self-consistent dynamical models for dust driven winds of carbon-rich AGB stars. The models are based on the coupled system of frequency-dependent radiation hydrodynamics and time-dependent dust formation. We investigate in…
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 via stellar yields. One the main unsolved…
We present new models for the evolution of stars with mass in the range 1Msun < M < 7.5Msun, followed from the pre-main-sequence through the asymptotic giant branch phase. The metallicity adopted is $Z=3*10^{-4} (which, with an…
AGB stars, the precursors of Planetary Nebulae, exhibit high rates of mass loss and eject material in the form of a slow (10-20 km/s), dusty molecular wind. The general belief that the dust component of AGB circumstellar envelopes have…
Radiative acceleration of newly-formed dust grains and transfer of momentum from the dust to the gas plays an important role for driving winds of AGB stars. Therefore a detailed description of the interaction of gas and dust is a…
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…
We present a near-infrared spectro-interferometric observation of the non-Mira-type, semiregular asymptotic giant branch star SW Vir. Our aim is to probe the physical properties of the outer atmosphere with spatially resolved data in…