Dynamic Model Atmospheres of Cool Giants

Höfner, Susanne; Gautschy-Loidl, R.; Aringer, B.; Nowotny, W.; Hron, J.; Freytag, B.

doi:10.1007/10995082_43

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 19 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Considerable progress has been achieved in this field during the last few years through comparison with IR spectroscopic data (ISO). In general, dynamic models are now approaching quantitative agreement with observations (Höfner et al 2003;Gautschy-Loidl et al 2004;Höfner et al 2005). In contrast, there have been only a few attempts to model line profiles and their variations for pulsating AGB atmospheres in the past, which shall be summarised in the following.…”

Section: Modelling Line Profile Variationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atmospheric dynamics in carbon-rich Miras

Nowotny¹,

Aringer²,

Höfner

et al. 2005

A&A

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Atmospheres of evolved AGB stars are heavily affected by pulsation, dust formation and mass loss, and they can become very extended. Time series of observed high-resolution spectra proved to be a useful tool to study atmospheric dynamics throughout the outer layers of these pulsating red giants. Originating at various depths, different molecular spectral lines observed in the near-infrared can be used to probe gas velocities there for different phases during the lightcycle. Dynamic model atmospheres are needed to represent the complicated structures of Mira variables properly. An important aspect which should be reproduced by the models is the variation of line profiles due to the influence of gas velocities. Based on a dynamic model, synthetic spectra (containing CO and CN lines) were calculated, using an LTE radiative transfer code that includes velocity effects. It is shown that profiles of lines that sample different depths qualitatively reproduce the behaviour expected from observations.

show abstract

Section: Modelling Line Profile Variationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atmospheric dynamics in carbon-rich Miras

Nowotny¹,

Aringer²,

Höfner

et al. 2005

A&A

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…calculated and applied in the past by different groups (see the overviews given by Woitke 2003;or Höfner et al 2005), among them the models used in this work.…”

Section: Notes Listed Are (I) Parameters Of the Hydrostatic Initial mentioning

confidence: 99%

Line formation in AGB atmospheres including velocity effects

Nowotny¹,

Höfner

Aringer³

2010

A&A

145

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Context. Towards the end of the evolutionary stage of the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) the atmospheres of evolved red giants are considerably influenced by radial pulsations of the stellar interiors and developing stellar winds. The resulting complex velocity fields severely affect molecular line profiles (shapes, time-dependent shifts in wavelength, multiple components) observable in near-infrared spectra of long period variables. Time-series high-resolution spectroscopy allows us to probe the atmospheric kinematics and thereby study the mass loss process. Aims. With the help of model calculations the complex line formation process in AGB atmospheres was explored with the focus on velocity effects. Furthermore, we aimed for atmospheric models which are able to quantitatively reproduce line profile variations found in observed spectra of pulsating late-type giants. Methods. Models describing pulsation-enhanced dust-driven winds were used to compute synthetic spectra under the assumptions of chemical equilibrium and LTE. For this purpose, we used molecular data from line lists for the considered species and solved the radiative transfer in spherical geometry including the effects of velocity fields. Radial velocities (RV) derived from Doppler-shifted (components of) synthetic line profiles provide information on the gas velocities in the line-forming region of the spectral features. In addition, we made use of radial optical depth distributions to give estimates for the layers where lines are formed and to illustrate the effects of velocities in the line formation process. Results. Assuming uniform gas velocities for all depth points of an atmospheric model we estimated the conversion factor between gas velocities and measured RVs to p = u gas /RV ≈ 1.2−1.5. On the basis of dynamic model atmospheres and by applying our spectral synthesis codes we investigated in detail the finding that various molecular features in AGB spectra originate at different geometrical depths of the very extended atmospheres of these stars. We show that the models are able to quantitatively reproduce the characteristic line profile variations of lines sampling the deep photosphere (CO Δv = 3, CN) of Mira variables and the corresponding discontinuous, S-shaped RV curve. The global velocity fields (traced by different features) of typical long-period variables are also realistically reproduced. Possible reasons for discrepancies concerning other modelling results (e.g. CO Δv = 2 lines) are outlined. In addition, we present a model showing variations of CO Δv = 3 line profiles comparable to observed spectra of semiregular variables and discuss that the non-occurence of line doubling in these objects may be due to a density effect. Conclusions. The results of our line profile modelling are another indication that the dynamic models studied here are approaching a realistic representation of the outer layers of AGB stars with or without mass loss.

show abstract

“…one of the previous including circumstellar dust. An overview of existing models and problems is given elsewhere 4,5 .…”

Section: Atmospheric Structurementioning

confidence: 99%