134 research outputs found
The circumstellar envelope of AFGL 4106
We present new imaging and spectroscopy of the post-red supergiant binary
AFGL 4106. Coronographic imaging in H-alpha reveals the shape and extent of the
ionized region in the circumstellar envelope (CSE). Echelle spectroscopy with
the slit covering almost the entire extent of the CSE is used to derive the
physical conditions in the ionized region and the optical depth of the dust
contained within the CSE.
The dust shell around AFGL 4106 is clumpy and mixed with ionized gas. H-alpha
and [N II] emission is brightest from a thin bow-shaped layer just outside of
the detached dust shell. On-going mass loss is traced by [Ca II] emission and
blue-shifted absorption in lines of low-ionization species. A simple model is
used to interpret the spatial distribution of the circumstellar extinction and
the dust emission in a consistent way.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysics Main Journa
Crystalline silicate dust around evolved stars II. The crystalline silicate complexes
This is the second paper in a series of three in which we present an
exhaustive inventory of the 49 solid state emission bands observed in a sample
of 17 oxygen-rich dust shells surrounding evolved stars. Most of these emission
bands are concentrated in well defined spectral regions (called complexes). We
define 7 of these complexes; the 10, 18, 23, 28, 33, 40 and 60 micron complex.
We derive average properties of the individual bands. Comparison with
laboratory data suggests that both olivines (Mg(2x)Fe(2-2x)SiO(4)) and
pyroxenes (Mg(x)Fe(1-x)SiO(3)) are present, with x close to 1, i.e. the
minerals are very Mg-rich and Fe-poor. This composition is similar to that seen
in disks surrounding young stars and in the solar system comet Hale-Bopp. A
significant fraction of the emission bands cannot be identified with either
olivines or pyroxenes. Possible other materials that may be the carriers of
these unidentified bands are briefly discussed. There is a natural division
into objects that show a disk-like geometry (strong crystalline silicate
bands), and objects whose dust shell is characteristic of an outflow (weak
crystalline silicate bands). In particular, stars with the 33.5 micron olivine
band stronger than about 20 percent over continuum are invariably disk sources.
Likewise, the 60 micron region is dominated by crystalline silicates in the
disk sources, while it is dominated by crystalline H(2)O ice in the outflow
sources. We show that the disk and outflow sources have significant differences
in the shape of the emission bands. This difference must be related to the
composition or grain shapes of the dust particles. The incredible richness of
the crystalline silicate spectra observed by ISO allows detailed studies of the
mineralogy of these dust shells, and is the origin and history of the dust.Comment: 20 pages, 21 figures, accepted by A&A, this paper and others (in this
serie) can also be found at http://zon.wins.uva.nl/~frankm/papers.htm
Crystalline silicate dust around evolved stars III. A correlations study of crystalline silicate features
We have carried out a quantitative trend analysis of the crystalline
silicates observed in the ISO spectra of a sample of 14 stars with different
evolutionary backgrounds. We have modeled the spectra using a simple dust
radiative transfer model and have correlated the results with other known
parameters. We confirm the abundance difference of the crystalline silicates in
disk and in outflow sources, as found by Molster et al. (1999, Nature 401,
563). We found some indication that the enstatite over forsterite abundance
ratio differs, it is slightly higher in the outflow sources with respect to the
disk sources. It is clear that more data is required to fully test this
hypothesis. We show that the 69.0 micron feature, attributed to forsterite, may
be a very suitable temperature indicator. We found that the enstatite is more
abundant than forsterite in almost all sources. The temperature of the
enstatite grains is about equal to that of the forsterite grains in the disk
sources but slightly lower in the outflow sources. Crystalline silicates are on
average colder than amorphous silicates. This may be due to the difference in
Fe content of both materials. Finally we find an indication that the ratio of
ortho to clino enstatite, which is about 1:1 in disk sources, shifts towards
ortho enstatite in the high luminosity (outflow) sources.Comment: 16 pages, 20 figures, accepted by A&A, this paper and others (in this
series) can also be found at http://zon.wins.uva.nl/~frankm/papers.htm
The mineral composition and spatial distribution of the dust ejecta of NGC 6302
We have analysed the full ISO spectrum of the planetary nebula NGC 6302 in
order to derive the mineralogical composition of the dust in the nebula. We use
an optically thin dust model in combination with laboratory measurements of
cosmic dust analogues. We find two main temperature components at about 100 and
50 K respectively, with distinctly different dust compositions. The warm
component contains an important contribution from dust without strong infrared
resonances. In particular the presence of small warm amorphous silicate grains
can be excluded. The detection of weak PAH bands also points to a peculiar
chemical composition of the dust in this oxygen-rich nebula. The cool dust
component contains the bulk of the mass and shows strong emission from
crystalline silicates, which contain about 10 percent of the mass. In addition,
we identify the 92 micron band with the mineral calcite, and argue that the 60
micron band contains a contribution from the carbonate dolomite. We present the
mass absorption coefficients of six different carbonate minerals. The geometry
of the dust shell around NGC 6302 is studied with mid-infrared images obtained
with TIMMI2. We argue that the cool dust component is present in a
circumstellar dust torus, while the diffuse emission from the warm component
originates from the lobes.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in A&
The composition and nature of the dust shell surrounding the binary AFGL 4106
We present infrared spectroscopy and imaging of AFGL~4106. The 2.4-5 micron
ISO-SWS spectrum reveals the presence of a cool, luminous star (T_eff ~ 3750 K)
in addition to an almost equally luminous F star (T_eff ~ 7250 K). The 5-195
micron SWS and LWS spectra are dominated by strong emission from circumstellar
dust. We find that the dust consists of amorphous silicates, with a minor but
significant contribution from crystalline silicates. The amorphous silicates
consist of Fe-rich olivines. The presence of amorphous pyroxenes cannot be
excluded but if present they contain much less Fe than the amorphous olivines.
Comparison with laboratory data shows that the pure Mg-end members of the
crystalline olivine and pyroxene solid solution series are present. In
addition, we find strong evidence for simple oxides (FeO and Al2O3) as well as
crystalline H2O ice. Several narrow emission features remain unidentified.
Modelling of the dust emission using a dust radiation transfer code shows that
large grains (~1 micron) must be present and that the abundance of the
crystalline silicates is between 7 and 15% of the total dust mass, depending on
the assumed enstatite to forsterite ratio, which is estimated to be between 1
and 3. The amorphous and crystalline dust components in the shell do not have
the same temperature, implying that the different dust species are not
thermally coupled. We find a dust mass of ~3.9 x 10^-2 M_sol expelled over a
period of 4 x 10^3 years for a distance of 3.3 kpc. The F-star in the AFGL~4106
binary is likely a post-red-supergiant in transition to a blue supergiant or WR
phase.Comment: 22 pages (including 12 figures), accepted by Astronomy and
Astrophysic
FU Orionis - The MIDI/VLTI Perspective
We present the first mid-infrared interferometric measurements of FU Orionis.
We clearly resolve structures that are best explained with an optically thick
accretion disk. A simple accretion disk model fits the observed SED and
visibilities reasonably well and does not require the presence of any
additional structure such as a dusty envelope. The inclination and also the
position angle of the disk can be constrained from the multibaseline
interferometric observations. Our disk model is in general agreement with most
published near-infrared interferometric measurements. From the shape and
strength of the 8-13 micrometer spectrum the dust composition of the accretion
disk is derived for the first time. We conclude that most dust particles are
amorphous and already much larger than those typically observed in the ISM.
Although the high accretion rate of the system provides both, high temperatures
out to large radii and an effective transport mechanism to distribute
crystalline grains, we do not see any evidence for crystalline silicates
neither in the total spectrum nor in the correlated flux spectra from the inner
disk regions. Possible reasons for this non-detection are mentioned. All
results are discussed in context with other high-spatial resolution
observations of FU Ori and other FU Ori objects. We also address the question
whether FU Ori is in a younger evolutionary stage than a classical TTauri star.Comment: 41 pages (aastex style), 11 figures, 8 tables, accepted by Ap
The Formation of Crystalline Dust in AGB Winds from Binary Induced Spiral Shocks
As stars evolve along the Asymptotic Giant Branch, strong winds are driven
from the outer envelope. These winds form a shell, which may ultimately become
a planetary nebula. Many planetary nebulae are highly asymmetric, hinting at
the presence of a binary companion. Some post-Asymptotic Giant Branch objects
are surrounded by torii of crystalline dust, but there is no generally accepted
mechanism for annealing the amorphous grains in the wind to crystals. In this
Letter, we show that the shaping of the wind by a binary companion is likely to
lead to the formation of crystalline dust in the orbital plane of the binary.Comment: Submitted to ApJ
The symmetric dust shell and the central star of the bipolar planetary nebula NGC 6537
We present high-resolution images of the strongly bipolar planetary nebula
NGC 6537, obtained with Hubble Space Telescope and with the infrared adaptive
optics system on the Very Large Telescope. The central star is detected for the
first time. Using the multi-band photometry and constraints from the dynamical
age of the nebula, we derive a temperature in the range 1.5-2.5 10^5 K, a
luminosity~10^3 L_sun and a core mass M_c~0.7-0.9 M_sun. The progenitor mass is
probably in the range M_i = 3-7 M_sun. The extinction map shows a largely
symmetric, and compact dust structure, which is most likely a shell, located at
the neck of the bipolar flow, only 4 arcsec from the star. The dust shell
traces a short-lived phase of very high mass loss at the end of the AGB. The
dynamical age of the shell and bipolar lobes are very similar but the
morphologies are very different. The data suggests that the mass loss during
the ejection of the compact shell was largely spherically symmetric, and the
pronounced bipolarity formed afterwards. The dynamical ages of the bipolar
lobes and dust shell are similar, which is consistent with suggestions that
bipolar structures form in a run-away event at the very last stages of the AGB
mass loss. The inner edge of the dust shell is ionized, and PAH emission is
seen just outside the ionized gas. We associate the PAH emission with the
photo-dissociation region of the molecular shell.Comment: 10 pages, accepted by MNRA
Disks around Hot Stars in the Trifid Nebula
We report on mid-IR observations of the central region in the Trifid nebula,
carried out with ISOCAM in several broad-band infrared filters and in the low
resolution spectroscopic mode provided by the circular variable filter.
Analysis of the emission indicates the presence of a hot dust component (500 to
1000 K) and a warm dust component at lower temperatures (150-200 K) around
several members of the cluster exciting the HII region, and other stars
undetected at optical wavelengths. Complementary VLA observations suggest that
the mid-IR emission could arise from a dust cocoon or a circumstellar disk,
evaporated under the ionization of the central source and the exciting star of
the nebula. In several sources the silicate band is seen in
emission. One young stellar source shows indications of crystalline silicates
in the circumstellar dust.Comment: 4 pages with 1 figur
- …