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arXiv · 1506.09065

New observations and models of circumstellar CO line emission of AGB stars in the Herschel SUCCESS programme

Taissa Danilovich·D. Teyssier·K. Justtanont·H. Olofsson·L. Cerrigone·V. Bujarrabal·J. Alcolea·J. Cernicharo·A. Castro-Carrizo·P. Garcia-Lario·A. Marston
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Abstract

CONTEXT: Asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars are in one of the latest evolutionary stages of low to intermediate-mass stars. Their vigorous mass loss has a significant effect on the stellar evolution, and is a significant source of heavy elements and dust grains for the interstellar medium. The mass-loss rate can be well traced by carbon monoxide (CO) line emission. AIMS: We present new Herschel HIFI and IRAM 30m telescope CO line data for a sample of 53 galactic AGB stars. The lines cover a fairly large range of excitation energy from the $J=1\to0$ line to the $J=9\to8$ line, and even the $J=14\to13$ line in a few cases. We perform radiative transfer modelling for 38 of these sources to estimate their mass-loss rates. METHODS: We used a radiative transfer code based on the Monte Carlo method to model the CO line emission. We assume spherically symmetric circumstellar envelopes that are formed by a constant mass-loss rate through a smoothly accelerating wind. RESULTS: We find models that are consistent across a broad range of CO lines for most of the stars in our sample, i.e., a large number of the circumstellar envelopes can be described with a constant mass-loss rate. We also find that an accelerating wind is required to fit, in particular, the higher-J lines and that a velocity law will have a significant effect on the model line intensities. The results cover a wide range of mass-loss rates ($\sim 10^{-8}$ to $2\times 10^{-5}~\mathrm{M}_\odot~\mathrm{ yr}^{-1}$) and gas expansion velocities (2 to $21.5$ km s$^{-1}$), and include M-, S-, and C-type AGB stars. Our results generally agree with those of earlier studies, although we tend to find slightly lower mass-loss rates by about 40%, on average. We also present "bonus" lines detected during our CO observations.

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Taissa Danilovich, D. Teyssier, K. Justtanont, H. Olofsson, L. Cerrigone, V. Bujarrabal, J. Alcolea, J. Cernicharo, A. Castro-Carrizo, P. Garcia-Lario, A. Marston. 2015-07-01. New observations and models of circumstellar CO line emission of AGB stars in the Herschel SUCCESS programme. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361%2F201526705

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