Dust in AGB wind-ISM interaction regions

TL;DR

This study investigates dust mass and grain sizes in wind-ISM interaction regions around AGB stars using far-infrared observations and radiative transfer models, revealing differences between carbon-rich and oxygen-rich stars and implications for dust survival.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis combining far-infrared imaging and 3D radiative transfer modeling to constrain dust properties in AGB wind-ISM interaction regions.

Findings

Dust mass aligns with stellar wind contributions.

Larger grain sizes (~2 micron) in carbon-rich sources.

Complex grain properties in oxygen-rich sources hinder modeling.

Abstract

We aim to constrain the dust mass and grain sizes in the interaction regions between the stellar winds and the ISM around asymptotic giant branch stars. By describing the dust in these regions, we aim to shed light on the role of low mass evolved stars in the origin of dust in galaxies. We use images in the far-infrared at 70 micron and 160 micron to derive dust temperatures and dust masses in the wind-ISM interaction regions around a sample of carbon-rich and oxygen-rich asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. The dust temperature and mass are determined in two ways. First directly from the data using the ratio of the measured fluxes and assuming opacities for dust with a constant grain size of 0.1 micron. We then perform 3D dust-radiative transfer models spatially constrained by the observations to consistently calculate the temperature and mass. For the radiative transfer models each model contains one constant grain size, which is varied between 0.01 micron to 5.0 micron. We find that the observed dust mass in the wind-ISM interaction regions is consistent with mass accumulated from the stellar winds. For the carbon-rich sources adding the spatial constraints in the radiative transfer models results in preferentially larger grain sizes (approx. 2 micron). For the oxygen-rich sources the spatial constraints result in too high temperatures in the models, making it impossible to fit the observed far-infrared ratio irrespective of the grain size used, indicating a more complex interplay of grain properties and the stellar radiation field. The results have implications for how likely it is for the grains to survive the transition into the ISM, and the properties of dust particles that later act as seeds for grain growth in the ISM. However, the results for the oxygen-rich sources show that the derivation of dust properties is not straight forward, requiring more complex modelling