Bibcode
                                    
                            Marini, E.; Dell'Agli, F.; García-Hernández, D. A.; Groenewegen, M. A. T.; Puccetti, S.; Ventura, P.; Villaver, E.
    Bibliographical reference
                                    Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, Volume 488, Issue 1, p.L85-L89
Advertised on:
    
                        9
            
                        2019
            
  Citations
                                    4
                            Refereed citations
                                    4
                            Description
                                    We study a group of evolved M-stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud,
characterized by a peculiar spectral energy distribution. While the 9.7
μm feature arises from silicate particles, the whole infrared data
seem to suggest the presence of an additional featureless dust species.
We propose that the circumstellar envelopes of these sources are
characterized by a dual dust chemistry, with an internal region,
harbouring carbonaceous particles, and an external zone, populated by
silicate, iron, and alumina dust grains. Based on the comparison with
results from stellar modelling that describe the dust formation process,
we deduce that these stars descend from low-mass (M < 2
M⊙) objects, formed 1-4 Gyr ago, currently evolving
either in the post-AGB phase or through an after-pulse phase, when the
shell CNO nuclear activity is temporarily extinguished. Possible
observations able to confirm or disregard the present hypothesis are
discussed.
                            Related projects
                 
Nucleosynthesis and molecular processes in the late stages of Stellar Evolution 
            
    Low- to intermediate-mass (M < 8 solar masses, Ms) stars represent the majority of stars in the Cosmos. They finish their lives on the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) - just before they form planetary nebulae (PNe) - where they experience complex nucleosynthetic and molecular processes. AGB stars are important contributors to the enrichment of the
            
            Domingo Aníbal
            
                        García Hernández