Bibcode
Mészáros, Sz.; Avrett, E. H.; Dupree, A. K.
Bibliographical reference
The Astronomical Journal, Volume 138, Issue 2, pp. 615-624 (2009).
Advertised on:
8
2009
Citations
44
Refereed citations
40
Description
Chromospheric model calculations of the Hα line for selected red
giant branch and asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars in the globular
clusters M13, M15, and M92 are constructed to derive mass loss rates
(MLRs). The model spectra are compared to the observations obtained with
the Hectochelle on the MMT telescope. These stars show strong Hα
emissions and blueshifted Hα cores signaling that mass outflow is
present in all stars. Outflow velocities of 3-19 km s-1,
larger than indicated by Hα profiles, are needed in the upper
chromosphere to achieve good agreement between the model spectra and the
observations. The resulting MLRs range from 0.6 × 10-9
to 5 × 10-9 M sun yr-1, which are
about an order of magnitude lower than predicted from "Reimers' law" or
inferred from the infrared excess of similar stars. The MLR increases
slightly with luminosity and with decreasing effective temperature.
Stars in the more metal-rich M13 have higher MLRs by a factor of ~2 than
in the metal-poor clusters M15 and M92. A fit to the MLRs is given by
dot{M} (M sun yr-1) = 0.092 ×L
0.16 × T -2.02 eff × A
0.37, where A=10^{[Fe/H]}. Multiple observations of stars
revealed one object in M15, K757, in which the mass outflow increased by
a factor of 6 between two observations separated by 18 months. Other
stars showed changes in MLR by a factor of 1.5 or less.