Pathways for Observing Stellar Surfaces Using 3D Hydrodynamical Simulations of Evolved Stars

TL;DR

This paper discusses how 3D hydrodynamical simulations of evolved stars, using CO5BOLD and Optim3D codes, help interpret complex stellar surface images by combining observations with detailed theoretical models.

Contribution

It introduces a methodology for simulating evolved star surfaces with realistic physics and demonstrates how these simulations enhance the interpretation of observational data.

Findings

Simulations accurately reproduce observed stellar surface features.

The combination of CO5BOLD and Optim3D improves analysis of stellar convection.

Enhanced understanding of evolved star surface phenomena.

Abstract

Evolved stars are among the largest and brightest stars and they are ideal targets for the new generation of sensitive, high resolution instrumentation that provides spectrophotometric, interferometric, astrometric, and imaging observables. The interpretation of the complex stellar surface images requires numerical simulations of stellar convection that take into account multi-dimensional time-dependent radiation hydrodynamics with realistic input physics. We show how the evolved star simulations are obtained using the radiative hydrodynamics code CO5BOLD and how the accurate observables are computed with the post-processing radiative transfer code Optim3D. The synergy between observations and theoretical work is supported by a proper and quantitative analysis using these simulations, and by strong constraints from the observational side.