Water vapor on supergiants. The 12 micron TEXES spectra of mu Cephei

Several recent papers have argued for warm, semi-detached, molecular layers surrounding red giant and supergiant stars, a concept known as a MOLsphere. Spectroscopic and interferometric analyses have often corroborated this general picture. Here, we present high-resolution spectroscopic data of pure rotational lines of water vapor at 12 microns for the supergiant mu Cephei. This star has often been used to test the concept of molecular layers around supergiants. Given the prediction of an isothermal, optically thick water-vapor layer in Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium around the star (MOLsphere), we expected the 12 micron lines to be in emission or at least in absorption but filled in by emission from the molecular layer around the star. Our data, however, show the contrary; we find definite absorption. Thus, our data do not easily fit into the suggested isothermal MOLsphere scenario. The 12 micron lines, therefore, put new, strong constraints on the MOLsphere concept and on the nature of water seen in signatures across the spectra of early M supergiants. We also find that the absorption is even stronger than that calculated from a standard, spherically symmetric model photosphere without any surrounding layers. A cool model photosphere, representing cool outer layers is, however, able to reproduce the lines, but this model does not account for water vapor emission at 6 microns. Thus, a unified model for water vapor on mu Cephei appears to be lacking. It does seem necessary to model the underlying photospheres of these supergiants in their whole complexity. The strong water vapor lines clearly reveal inadequacies of classical model atmospheres.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Photoinduced insulator-metal transition and nonlinear optical response of correlated electrons -- a DMFT analysis

We investigate a photoinduced insulator-metal transition in the Falicov-Kimball model with the dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) extended to nonequilibrium systems in periodic modulations in time. When the photon energy of the pump light is $\Omega \approx U$ ($U$: the interaction strength), a Drude-like peak is found to grow in the optical conductivity spectrum, which is an evidence that the system is driven into a metallic state. During the transition, the band gap does not collapse, whereas the distribution function exhibits a non-monotonic behaviour away from the Fermi distribution. This indicates that the transition cannot be accounted for by heating effects, but creation of photo-carriers is responsible.Comment: 3pages, 1 figure, Proceedings of Yamada Conference LXIII on Photo-induced Phase Transitions and Cooperative Phenomena (PIPT 2008

Dust in the Photospheric Environment: Unified Cloudy Models of M, L, and T Dwarfs

We address the problem of how dust forms and how it could be sustained in the static photospheres of cool dwarfs for a long time. In the cool and dense gas, dust forms easily at the condensation temperature, T_cond, and the dust can be in detailed balance with the ambient gas so long as it remains smaller than the critical radius, r_cr. However, dust will grow larger and segregate from the gas when it will be larger than r_cr somewhere at the lower temperature, which we refer to as the critical temperature, T_cr. Then, the large dust grains will precipitate below the photosphere and only the small dust grains in the region of T_cr < T < T_cond can be sustained in the photosphere. Thus a dust cloud is formed. Incorporating the dust cloud, non-grey model photo- spheres in radiative-convective equilibrium are extended to T_eff as low as 800K. Observed colors and spectra of cool dwarfs can consistently be accounted for by a single grid of our cloudy models. This fact in turn can be regarded as supporting evidence for our basic assumption on the cloud formation.Comment: 50 pages with 14 postscript figures, to be published in Astrophys.

The non-uniform, dynamic atmosphere of Betelgeuse observed at mid-infrared wavelengths

We present an interferometric study of the continuum surface of the red supergiant star Betelgeuse at 11.15 microns wavelength, using data obtained with the Berkeley Infrared Spatial Interferometer each year between 2006 and 2010. These data allow an investigation of an optically thick layer within 1.4 stellar radii of the photosphere. The layer has an optical depth of ~1 at 11.15 microns, and varies in temperature between 1900 K and 2800 K and in outer radius between 1.16 and 1.36 stellar radii. Electron-hydrogen atom collisions contribute significantly to the opacity of the layer. The layer has a non-uniform intensity distribution that changes between observing epochs. These results indicate that large-scale surface convective activity strongly influences the dynamics of the inner atmosphere of Betelgeuse, and mass-loss processes.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, in press (ApJ

The Evolution of L and T Dwarfs in Color-Magnitude Diagrams

We present new evolution sequences for very low mass stars, brown dwarfs and giant planets and use them to explore a variety of influences on the evolution of these objects. We compare our results with previous work and discuss the causes of the differences and argue for the importance of the surface boundary condition provided by atmosphere models including clouds. The L- to T-type ultracool dwarf transition can be accommodated within the Ackerman & Marley (2001) cloud model by varying the cloud sedimentation parameter. We develop a simple model for the evolution across the L/T transition. By combining the evolution calculation and our atmosphere models, we generate colors and magnitudes of synthetic populations of ultracool dwarfs in the field and in galactic clusters. We focus on near infrared color- magnitude diagrams (CMDs) and on the nature of the ``second parameter'' that is responsible for the scatter of colors along the Teff sequence. Variations in metallicity and cloud parameters, unresolved binaries and possibly a relatively young population all play a role in defining the spread of brown dwarfs along the cooling sequence. We find that the transition from cloudy L dwarfs to cloudless T dwarfs slows down the evolution and causes a pile up of substellar objects in the transition region, in contradiction with previous studies. We apply the same model to the Pleiades brown dwarf sequence. Taken at face value, the Pleiades data suggest that the L/T transition occurs at lower Teff for lower gravity objects. The simulated populations of brown dwarfs also reveal that the phase of deuterium burning produces a distinctive feature in CMDs that should be detectable in ~50-100 Myr old clusters.Comment: Accepted for publication in the ApJ. 52 pages including 20 figure

The Spectrum of the Brown Dwarf Gliese 229B

We present a spectrum of the cool (T_eff = 900 K) brown dwarf Gliese 229B. This spectrum, with a relatively high signal-to-noise ratio per spectral resolution element (> 30), spans the wavelength range from 0.837 microns to 5.0 microns. We identify a total of four different major methane absorption features, including the fundamental band at 3.3 microns, at least four steam bands, and two neutral cesium features. We confirm the recent detection of carbon monoxide (CO) in excess of what is predicted by thermochemical equilibrium calculations. Carbon is primarily involved in a chemical balance between methane and CO at the temperatures and pressures present in the outer parts of a brown dwarf. At lower temperatures, the balance favors methane, while in the deeper, hotter regions, the reaction reverses to convert methane into CO. The presence of CO in the observable part of the atmosphere is therefore a sensitive indicator of vertical flows. The high signal-to-noise ratio in the 1 to 2.5 microns region permits us to place constraints on the quantity of dust in the atmosphere of the brown dwarf. We are unable to reconcile the observed spectrum with synthetic spectra that include the presences of dust. The presence of CO but lack of dust may be a clue to the location of the boundaries of the outer convective region of the atmosphere: The lack of dust may mean that it is not being conveyed into the photosphere by convection, or that it exists in patchy clouds. If the dust is not in clouds, but rather sits below the outer convective region, we estimate that the boundary between outer convective and inner radiative layers is between 1250 K and 1600 K, in agreement with recent models.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure