During their late pulsating phase, AGB stars expel most of their mass in the form of massive dusty envelopes, an event that largely controls the composition of interstellar matter. The envelopes, ...however, are distant and opaque to visible and NIR radiation: their structure remains poorly known and the mass-loss process poorly understood. Millimeter-wave interferometry, which combines the advantages of longer wavelength, high angular resolution and very high spectral resolution is the optimal investigative tool for this purpose. Mm waves pass through dust with almost no attenuation. Their spectrum is rich in molecular lines and hosts the fundamental lines of the ubiquitous CO molecule, allowing a tomographic reconstruction of the envelope structure. The circumstellar envelope IRC +10 216 and its central star, the C-rich TP-AGB star closest to the Sun, are the best objects for such an investigation. Two years ago, we reported the first detailed study of the CO(2–1) line emission in that envelope, made with the IRAM 30-m telescope. It revealed a series of dense gas shells, expanding at a uniform radial velocity. The limited resolution of the telescope (HPBW 11″) did not allow us to resolve the shell structure. We now report much higher angular resolution observations of CO(2–1), CO(1–0), CN(2–1) and C4H(24–23) made with the SMA, PdB and ALMA interferometers (with synthesized half-power beamwidths of 3″, 1″ and 0.3″, respectively). Although the envelope appears much more intricate at high resolution than with an 11″ beam, its prevailing structure remains a pattern of thin, nearly concentric shells. The average separation between the brightest CO shells is 16″ in the outer envelope, where it appears remarkably constant. Closer to the star (<40″), the shell pattern is denser and less regular, showing intermediary arcs. Outside the small (r< 0.3′′) dust formation zone, the gas appears to expand radially at a constant velocity, 14.5 km s-1, with small turbulent motions. Based on that property, we have reconstructed the 3D structure of the outer envelope and have derived the gas temperature and density radial profiles in the inner (r< 25′′) envelope. The shell-intershell density contrast is found to be typically 3. The over-dense shells have spherical or slightly oblate shapes and typically extend over a few steradians, implying isotropic mass loss. The regular spacing of shells in the outer envelope supports the model of a binary star system with a period of 700 yr and a near face-on elliptical orbit. The companion fly-by triggers enhanced episodes of mass loss near periastron. The densification of the shell pattern observed in the central part of the envelope suggests a more complex scenario for the last few thousand years.
We report on the detection of calcium isocyanide, CaNC, in the carbon-rich evolved star IRC+10216. We derived a column density for this species of (2 ± 0.5) × 1011 cm−2. Based on the observed line ...profiles and the modelling of its emission through the envelope, the molecule has to be produced in the intermediate and outer layers of the circumstellar envelope where other metal-isocyanides have previously been found in this source. The abundance ratio of CaNC relative to MgNC and FeCN is ≃1/60 and ≃1, respectively. We searched for the species CaF, CaCl, CaC, CaCCH, and CaCH3 for which accurate frequency predictions are available. Only upper limits have been obtained for these molecules.
During their thermally pulsing phase, asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars eject material that forms extended dusty envelopes
. Visible polarimetric imaging found clumpy dust clouds within two stellar ...radii of several oxygen-rich stars
. Inhomogeneous molecular gas has also been observed in multiple emission lines within several stellar radii of different oxygen-rich stars, including W Hya and Mira
. At the stellar surface level, infrared images have shown intricate structures around the carbon semiregular variable R Scl and in the S-type star π
Gru
. Infrared images have also shown clumpy dust structures within a few stellar radii of the prototypical carbon AGB star IRC+10°216 (refs.
), and studies of molecular gas distribution beyond the dust formation zone have also shown complex circumstellar structures
. Because of the lack of sufficient spatial resolution, however, the distribution of molecular gas in the stellar atmosphere and the dust formation zone of AGB carbon stars is not known, nor is how it is subsequently expelled. Here we report observations with a resolution of one stellar radius of the recently formed dust and molecular gas in the atmosphere of IRC+10°216. Lines of HCN, SiS and SiC
appear at different radii and in different clumps, which we interpret as large convective cells in the photosphere, as seen in Betelgeuse
. The convective cells coalesce with pulsation, causing anisotropies that, together with companions
, shape its circumstellar envelope.
We present low spectral resolution molecular interferometric observations at 1.2 mm obtained with the Combined Array for Research in Millimetre-wave Astronomy (CARMA) towards the C-rich AGB star ...IRC+10216. We have mapped the emission of several lines of SiS, H13CN, SiO and SiC2 in the ground and first excited vibrational states with a high angular resolution of 0.25 arcsec. These observations have allowed us to partially resolve the emission of the envelope at distances from the star ≲50 stellar radii (R
⋆), where the stellar wind is mainly accelerated. The structure of the molecular emission has been modelled with a 3D radiation transfer code. The emission of line SiS (v = 0, J = 14–13) is best reproduced with a set of maser emitting arcs arranged between 5 and 20R
⋆. The abundance of H13CN with respect to H2 decreases from 8 × 10−7 at 1–5R
⋆ to 3 × 10−7 at 20R
⋆. The SiO observations are explained with an abundance ≲2 × 10−8 in the shell-like region between 1 and 5R
⋆. At this point, the SiO abundance sharply increases up to (2–3) × 10−7. The vibrational temperature of SiO increases by a factor of 2 due north-east between 20 and 50R
⋆. SiC2 is formed at the stellar surface with an abundance of 8 × 10−7 decreasing down to 8 × 10−8 at 20R
⋆ probably due to depletion on to dust grains. Several asymmetries are found in the abundance distributions of H13CN, SiO and SiC2 which define three remarkable directions (north-east, south-southwest, and south-east) in the explored region of the envelope. There are some differences between the redshifted and blueshifted emissions of these molecules suggesting the existence of additional asymmetries in their abundance distributions along the line of sight.
We report on the detection of two series of harmonically related doublets in IRC +10216. From the observed frequencies, the rotational constant of the first series is B = 1380.888 MHz and that of the ...second series is B = 1381.512 MHz. The two series correspond to two species with a 2Σ electronic ground state. After considering all possible candidates, and based on quantum chemical calculations, the first series is assigned to MgC3N and the second to MgC4H. For the latter species, optical spectroscopy measurements support its identification. Unlike diatomic metal-containing molecules, the line profiles of the two new molecules indicate that they are formed in the outer layers of the envelope, as occurs for MgNC and other polyatomic metal-cyanides. We also confirm the detection of MgCCH that was previously reported from the observation of two doublets. The relative abundance of MgC3N with respect to MgNC is close to one while that of MgC4H relative to MgCCH is about ten. The synthesis of these magnesium cyanides and acetylides in IRC +10216 can be explained in terms of a two-step process initiated by the radiative association of Mg+ with large cyanopolyynes and polyynes followed by the dissociative recombination of the ionic complexes.
Observations of IRC +10216 with the Yebes 40m telescope between 31 and 50 GHz have revealed more than 150 unidentified lines. Some of them can be grouped into a new series of 26 doublets, ...harmonically related with integer quantum numbers ranging from J up=54 to 80. The separation of the doublets increases systematically with J, i.e., as expected for a linear species in one of its bending modes. The rotational parameters resulting from the fit to these data are B = 290.8844 ± 0.0004 MHz, D = 0.88 ± 0.04 Hz, q = 0.1463 ± 0.0001 MHz. The rotational constant is very close to that of the ground state of HC9N. Ab initio calculations show an excellent agreement between these parameters and those predicted for the lowest energy vibrationally excited state, ν 19=1, of HC9N. This is the first detection, and complete characterization in space, of vibrationally excited HC9N. An energy of 41.5 cm-1 is estimated for the ν 19 state. In addition, 17 doublets of HC7N in the ν 15=1 state, for which laboratory spectroscopy is available, have been detected for the first time in IRC+10216. Several doublets of HC5N in its ν 11=1 state have been also observed. The column density ratio between the ground and the lowest excited vibrational states are ≈127, 9.5, and 1.5 for HC5N, HC7N, and HC9N, respectively. We find that these lowest-lying vibrational states are most probably populated via infrared pumping to vibrationally excited states lying at ≈600 cm-1. The lowest vibrationally excited states thus need to be taken into account to precisely determine absolute abundances and abundanceratios for long carbon chains. The abundance ratios N(HC5N)/N(HC7N) and N(HC7N)/N(HC9N) are 2.4 and 7.7 respectively.
ABSTRACT We report the detection of SiS rotational lines in high-vibrational states as well as SiO and SiC2 lines in their ground vibrational state toward IRC+10216 during the Atacama Large ...Millimeter Array Cycle 0. The spatial distribution of these molecules shows compact emission for SiS and a more extended emission for SiO and SiC2 and also proves the existence of an increase in the SiC2 emission at the outer shells of the circumstellar envelope (CSE). We analyze the excitation conditions of the vibrationally excited SiS using the population diagram technique, and we use a large velocity gradient model to compare with the observations. We found moderate discrepancies between the observations and the models that could be explained if SiS lines detected are optically thick. Additionally, the line profiles of the detected rotational lines in the high-energy vibrational states show a decreasing linewidth with increasing energy levels. This may be evidence that these lines could be excited only in the inner shells, i.e., the densest and hottest, of the CSE of IRC+10216.
We report the first detection of the S(1) pure rotational line of ortho-H2 at 17.04 μm in an asymptotic giant branch star, using observations of IRC+10216 with the Echelon-cross-echelle Spectrograph ...(EXES) mounted on the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. This line, which was observed in a very high-sensitivity spectrum (rms noise ≃0.04% of the continuum), was detected in the wing of a strong telluric line and displayed a P Cygni profile. The spectral ranges around the frequencies of the S(5) and S(7) ortho-H2 transitions were observed as well but no feature was detected in spectra with sensitivities of 0.12% and 0.09% regarding the continuum emission, respectively. We used a radiation transfer code to model these three lines and derived a mass-loss rate of (2.43 ± 0.21) × 10−5 M⊙ yr−1 without using the CO abundance. The comparison of this rate with previous estimates derived from CO observations suggests that the CO abundance relative to H2 is (6.7 ± 1.4) × 10−4. From this quantity and previously reported molecular abundances, we estimate the O/H and C/H ratios to be (3.3 ± 0.7) × 10−4 and >(5.2 ± 0.9) × 10−4, respectively. The C/O ratio is >1.5 ± 0.4. The absence of the S(5) and S(7) lines of ortho-H2 in our observations can be explained by the opacity of hot dust within 5 R⋆ from the center of the star. We estimate the intensity of the S(0) and S(2) lines of para-H2 to be ≃0.1% and 0.2% of the continuum, respectively, which are below the detection limit of EXES.
CONTEXTSilicon carbide dust is ubiquitous in circumstellar envelopes around C-rich AGB stars. However, the main gas-phase precursors leading to the formation of SiC dust have not yet been identified. ...The most obvious candidates among the molecules containing an Si-C bond detected in C-rich AGB stars are SiC2, SiC, and Si2C. To date, the ring molecule SiC2 has been observed in a handful of evolved stars, while SiC and Si2C have only been detected in the C-star envelope IRC +10216.AIMSWe aim to study how widespread and abundant SiC2, SiC, and Si2C are in envelopes around C-rich AGB stars and whether or not these species play an active role as gas-phase precursors of silicon carbide dust in the ejecta of carbon stars.METHODSWe carried out sensitive observations with the IRAM 30m telescope of a sample of 25 C-rich AGB stars to search for emission lines of SiC2, SiC, and Si2C in the λ 2 mm band. We performed non-LTE excitation and radiative transfer calculations based on the LVG method to model the observed lines of SiC2 and to derive SiC2 fractional abundances in the observed envelopes.RESULTSWe detect SiC2 in most of the sources, SiC in about half of them, and do not detect Si2C in any source, at the exception of IRC +10216. Most of these detections are reported for the first time in this work. We find a positive correlation between the SiC and SiC2 line emission, which suggests that both species are chemically linked, the SiC radical probably being the photodissociation product of SiC2 in the external layer of the envelope. We find a clear trend in which the denser the envelope, the less abundant SiC2 is. The observed trend is interpreted as an evidence of efficient incorporation of SiC2 onto dust grains, a process which is favored at high densities owing to the higher rate at which collisions between particles take place.CONCLUSIONSThe observed behavior of a decline in the SiC2 abundance with increasing density strongly suggests that SiC2 is an important gas-phase precursor of SiC dust in envelopes around carbon stars.
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