Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2002-03-04
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
13 pages, 10 postscript figures, to appear in A&A
Scientific paper
10.1051/0004-6361:20020304
We investigate the effects of molecular opacities on the evolution of TP-AGB stars that experience the third dredge-up, i.e. with surface abundances of carbon and oxygen varying with time. To this aim, a routine is constructed to derive the molecular concentrations through dissociation equilibrium calculations, and estimate the opacities due to H2, H2O, OH, C2, CN, and CO for any given density, temperature, and chemical composition of the gas. Then, synthetic TP-AGB models with dredge-up are calculated by either 1) adopting the newly developed routine, or 2) interpolating between fixed opacity tables for solar chemical composition, which is the usual prescription in AGB evolution calculations. The comparison between the two cases shows that the change in the dominant opacity sources, as the C/O ratio grows from below to above unity, crucially affects the evolution of the effective temperature, i.e. causing a notable cooling of the carbon-rich models (with C/O>1). From the comparison with observational data, it turns out that TP-AGB models with variable molecular opacities are able to reproduce the observed range of effective temperatures, mass-loss rates, and wind expansion velocities of C-type giants in the solar neighbourhood, otherwise failed if assuming fixed molecular opacities for solar-scaled mixtures. Finally, we mention other important evolutionary and observational effects that result from the adoption of the variable opacities, such as: i) significant shortening of the C-star phase due to the earlier onset of the super-wind; ii) consequent reduction of the carbon yields; iii) reproduction of the observed range of near-infrared colours of C-stars.
No associations
LandOfFree
Asymptotic Giant Branch evolution at varying surface C/O ratio: effects of changes in molecular opacities does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Asymptotic Giant Branch evolution at varying surface C/O ratio: effects of changes in molecular opacities, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Asymptotic Giant Branch evolution at varying surface C/O ratio: effects of changes in molecular opacities will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-335796