Evolution of Thermally Pulsing Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars V: Constraining the Mass Loss and Lifetimes of Intermediate Mass, Low Metallicity AGB Stars

TL;DR

This study models the evolution and lifetimes of TP-AGB stars across various metallicities using HST data, confirming a specific mass-loss prescription improves galaxy models and extends understanding of these stars' properties.

Contribution

It provides new constraints on TP-AGB star lifetimes and mass-loss processes at low metallicities, enhancing galaxy evolution models.

Findings

Confirmation of the Rosenfield et al. 2014 mass-loss prescription.

Improved models for galaxies with recent star formation.

Extension of TP-AGB lifetime constraints to lower metallicities.

Abstract

Thermally-Pulsing Asymptotic Giant Branch (TP-AGB) stars are relatively short lived (less than a few Myr), yet their cool effective temperatures, high luminosities, efficient mass-loss and dust production can dramatically effect the chemical enrichment histories and the spectral energy distributions of their host galaxies. The ability to accurately model TP-AGB stars is critical to the interpretation of the integrated light of distant galaxies, especially in redder wavelengths. We continue previous efforts to constrain the evolution and lifetimes of TP-AGB stars by modeling their underlying stellar populations. Using Hubble Space Telescope (HST) optical and near-infrared photometry taken of 12 fields of 10 nearby galaxies imaged via the ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey Treasury and the near-infrared HST/SNAP follow-up campaign, we compare the model and observed TP-AGB luminosity functions as well as the number ratio of TP-AGB to red giant branch stars. We confirm the best-fitting mass-loss prescription, introduced by Rosenfield et al. 2014, in which two different wind regimes are active during the TP-AGB, significantly improves models of many galaxies that show evidence of recent star formation. This study extends previous efforts to constrain TP-AGB lifetimes to metallicities ranging -1.59 < [Fe/H] < -0.56 and initial TP-AGB masses up to ~ 4 Msun, which include TP-AGB stars that undergo hot-bottom burning.