Dust production in omega Centauri

Details Dust production in omega Centauri Dust production in omega Centauri

Mar 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008sptz.prop50458v&link_type=abstract

Spitzer Proposal ID #50458

Mathematics

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Scientific paper

Mass loss is a crucial factor in stellar evolution, in galactic chemical evolution and in the dynamical evolution of star clusters. Mass loss from red giant stars also makes a significant contribution to the production of dust in the Universe. There is however no theory that can predict the mass loss and dust production from these stars, and that can be extrapolated to the low metallicity environment of the early Universe. With the goal of determining the evolution of mass loss and dust production on the red giant branches in a metal-poor environment, we have conducted an infrared imaging survey with IRAC and MIPS of the most massive galactic globular cluster, the nearby (5 kpc) omega Centauri (GO-2 program 20648; Boyer et al. 2007). The spectacular images reveal dozens of stars with circumstellar dust. Using the proper motion survey of van Leeuwen et al. (2001) and our own, extensive optical spectroscopic survey (van Loon et al. 2007) we are able to confidently separate cluster members from foreground stars and background galaxies. We now propose to obtain spectra in the full low-resolution IRS range of 15 cluster members that are in their final stages of evolution including, uniquely, post-AGB and carbon stars. These data will allow us to accurately measure the dust masses, to chart the mineralogical evolution of the dust from the onset of dust production to the post-mass loss phase, and to determine any dependencies on the chemical composition of the stellar photosphere. This is only possible with the Spitzer Space Telescope, and will leave a lasting legacy for the interpretation of many other Spitzer programmes whilst taking important steps towards a theory for red giant mass loss and dust production.

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