SHOOTING STARS Masers from red giants
Paper in proceeding, 2012

SiO maser emission probes the region close to the stellar surface where the wind is formed and is observed to better constrain the physical conditions in this region. We have started a long-term project where high-excitation 28SiO maser lines (i.e., J=5-4, v=1 and 2) are observed in a large sample of southern AGB stars. The primary goals are to put constraints on the physical conditions in the extended atmospheres, and to achieve a better understanding of the maser excitation process. Since the maser emission is strong and often highly linearly polarized, the detected sources could also complement the polarization calibrator catalogue for ALMA. Preliminary results show a high detection rate and that in approximately 20% of the sources, the v=2 transition emits stronger than the v=1 transition. We interpret this as possibly indicative of a hot dust shell very close to the stars.

stars: mass loss

stars: AGB and post-AGB

masers

polarization

catalogs

Author

S. Ramstedt

Argelander-Institut für Astronomie

Wouter Vlemmings

Chalmers, Earth and Space Sciences, Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics

E. Humphreys

European Southern Observatory (ESO)

F. Alves

Argelander-Institut für Astronomie

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union

1743-9213 (ISSN) 1743-9221 (eISSN)

Vol. 8 5287 292-293
978-110703284-2 (ISBN)

The XXVIIIth General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU)
Beijing, China,

Subject Categories

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

Roots

Basic sciences

DOI

10.1017/S1743921312007193

More information

Latest update

3/2/2022 6