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Project

The impact of wind-companion interactions on the outflows of AGB stars

The prime parameter determining the evolution and lifetime of a star is its mass. During several phases of its life, a star loses quite some mass through a stellar wind. A proper understanding of stellar evolution can thus not be achieved without a detailed understanding of the wind physics. For a long time, stellar winds were thought to have a spherically symmetric geometry. But new observations turn over this assumption. Thanks to an ALMA Large Program entitled ‘ATOMIUM’, which started in October 2018, we can show for the first time in a systematic way that binary companions have a huge influence on the morphology of stellar winds. The binary companion even does not have to be a star, even a planet can be important for wind shaping. Striving to deepen our understanding of the late stages of evolution of the majority of stars in the Universe, the central research question we will address during this FWO project is the role and impact of stellar and planetary binary companions on the evolution and wind characteristics of mass-loss AGB stars. We will assess if any systematic errors occur on previous mass-loss rate estimates which were based on the assumption of 1D geometry. If needed and possible, we will propose a new mass-loss rate prescription in function of the (circum)stellar parameters.

Date:1 Oct 2020 →  Today
Keywords:Stellar evolution, AGB and red supergiant stars, astrochemistry, mass loss, binarity
Disciplines:Stellar astrophysics, Time-domain astrophysics, Radio and sub-mm astronomy
Project type:PhD project