POSTER PAPER 9.02

An Improved Mass-loss Description for Dust-driven Superwinds
Astrid Wachter, Klaus-Peter Schroeder, Jan Martin Winters

Institute: Astronomy Centre, University of Sussex, Brighton
Institute: Zentrum fuer Astronomie und Astrophysik, Technische Universitat, Berlin
Institute: Max-Planck-Institut fuer Radioastronomie, Bonn
Contact Email: A.C.Wachter@sussex.ac.uk

Abstract: We consider the mass loss of stars during the final stages of their evolution. Our mass loss description for the tip-AGB is based on pulsating wind models in which the mass loss is driven by radiation pressure on dust grains, for a C-rich chemistry. From a grid of these models an improved approximative mass-loss rate formula has been derived which depends on the stellar parameters: effective temperature, luminosity, and mass only. The dependence of the mass-loss rate on the pulsation period has been taken into account by applying the observed period-luminosity relation for C-rich Miras. Since the wind models treat in detail the chemistry and micro-physics of the dust formation process, the resulting mass-loss rate depends strongly on the stellar effective temperature, reflecting the sensitivity of the dust formation process on the local thermodynamic conditions.

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Manuscript submitted: 2001-Sep-03
"The Future of Cool-Star Astrophysics", 2003, Eds. A. Brown, G. M. Harper, & T. R. Ayres. Proceedings of 12th Cambridge Workshop on Cool Stars, Stellar Systems, & The Sun,
© 2003 University of Colorado.