Atmospheric dynamics of red supergiant stars and applications to Interferometry

TL;DR

This paper presents a 3D radiative transfer code applied to RHD simulations of red supergiant stars, demonstrating that small-scale convection structures are detectable with current interferometers, improving interpretation over parametric models.

Contribution

Introduction of a 3D radiative transfer code applied to RHD simulations, enhancing the analysis of interferometric data of red supergiant stars.

Findings

Convection-related surface structures are detectable in the H band.

Diameter measurements are robust against model variations.

Simulations outperform parametric models for interpreting observations.

Abstract

We have written a 3D radiative transfer code that computes emerging spectra and intensity maps. We derive from radiative hydrodynamic (RHD) simulations of RSG stars carried out with CO5BOLD (Freytag et al. 2002) observables expected for red supergiant stars (RSG) especially for interferometric observations, with emphasis on small scale structures. We show that the convection-related surface structures are detectable in the H band with today's interferometers and that the diameter measurement should not be too dependent on the adopted model. The simulations are a great improvement over parametric models for the interpretation of interferometric observations.