Other
Scientific paper
Jan 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21543102f&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #215, #431.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.362
Other
1
Scientific paper
Intermediate mass stars (0.8-8 solar masses), eventually become Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars. During this phase of evolution, these stars pulsate and throw off mass to create a shell of gas. As the gas drifts away from the star it cools and forms dust. By determining the composition of the circumstellar dust, we can test hypotheses for dust formation and evolution. Because these stars are major contributors of dust and new elements to the interstellar medium (ISM), their dust is important for Galactic chemical evolution.
Infrared (IR) spectra are used to characterize the dust around these AGB stars. The current accepted hypotheses for dust formation around oxygen-rich AGB stars suggest that it is dominated by a mixture of silicates and alumina. However, spectral features longward of 14 microns suggests that this does not give the whole picture. Using a radiative transfer code (DUSTY), we produced synthetic spectra for comparison with our observational data. In this way, we can constrain the nature of the dust and its distribution around each star. Therefore the main goal of the research presented here was to determine whether other dust species can provide a better match to the observational spectra. While the envelope of the dust feature can be fitted with a mixture of silicates and alumina, the narrower features within the envelope are better explained by including crystalline silicates in the synthetic spectra. The need to include crystalline silicates in our dust shells calls our understanding of dust formation into question.
Fletcher Corinne
Speck Angela
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