I suggest the existence of an extended zone above the surface of asymptotic giant branch (AGB), as well as similar stars experiencing high mass loss rates. In addition to the escaping wind, in this zone there are parcels of gas that do not reach the escape velocity. These parcels of dense gas rise slowly and then fall back. The wind and bound gas exist simultaneously to distances of ~100AU. I term this region the effervescent zone. In this phenomenological study I find that the density of the bound material in the effervescent zone falls as ~r^{-5/2}, not much faster than the wind density. The main motivation to propose the effervescent model is to allow wide binary companions to influence the morphology of the descendant planetary nebulae (PN) by accreting mass from the effervescent zone. Accretion from the effervescent zone is more efficient than accretion from the wind in forming an accretion disk around the companion. The companion might then blow two jets that will shape the descendant PN.
This is the fourth in a series of papers that deal with angular momentum transport by internal gravity waves in stellar interiors. Here, we want to examine the potential role of waves in other evolutionary phases than the main sequence. We study the evolution of a 3Msun Population I model from the pre-main sequence to the early-AGB phase and examine whether waves can lead to angular momentum redistribution and/or element diffusion at the external convection zone boundary. We find that, although waves produced by the surface convection zone can be ignored safely for such a star during the main …
The influence of extended convective mixing (overshoot) on asymptotic giant branch stellar evolution is investigated in detail. The extended mixing is treated time-dependently, and the efficiency declines exponentially with the geometric distance from the convective boundary. It has been considered at all convective boundaries, including the He-flash convection zone in the intershell region which forms during the thermal pulses. Both the structural and the chemical evolution are affected by the inclusion of overshoot. The main results include a very efficient third dredge-up which leads to the…
We present nucleosynthesis calculations and the resulting 19F stellar yields for a large set of models with different masses and metallicity. We find that the production of fluorine depends on the temperature of the convective pulses, the amount of primary 12C mixed into the envelope by third dredge up and the extent of the partial mixing zone. Then we perform a detailed analysis of the reaction rates involved in the production of 19F and the effects of their uncertainties. We find that the major uncertainties are associated with the 14C(alpha,gamma)18O and the 19F(alpha,p)22Ne reaction rates.…
It is known that there must be some weak form of transport (called cool bottom processing, or CBP) acting in low mass RGB and AGB stars, adding nuclei, newly produced near the hydrogen-burning shell, to the convective envelope. We assume that this extra-mixing originates in a stellar dynamo operated by the differential rotation below the envelope, maintaining toroidal magnetic fields near the hydrogen-burning shell. We use a phenomenological approach to the buoyancy of magnetic flux tubes, assuming that they induce matter circulation as needed by CBP models. This establishes requirements on th…
Two types of models for the formation of semi-periodic concentric multiple shells (M-shells) around asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and in planetary nebulae are compared against observations. Models that attribute the M-shells to processes in an extended wind acceleration zone around AGB stars result in an optically thick acceleration zone, which reduces the acceleration efficiency in outer parts of the extended acceleration zone. This makes such models an unlikely explanation for the formation of M-shells. Models which attribute the M-shell to semi-periodic variation in one or more stella…
The focus of this study is on the treatment of those stellar regions immediately adjacent to convective zones. The results of hydrodynamical simulations by Freytag et al. (1996, A&A313,497) show that the motion of convective elements extends well beyond the boundary of the convectively unstable region. We have applied their parametrized description of the corresponding velocities to the treatment of overshoot in stellar evolution calculations up to the AGB (Pop.I, M_zams=3M_sun).
We have extended our published set of low mass AGB stellar models to lower metallicity. Different mass loss rates have been explored. Interpolation formulae for luminosity, effective temperature, core mass, mass of dredge up material and maximum temperature in the convective zone generated by thermal pulses are provided. Finally, we discuss the modifications of these quantities as obtained when an appropriate treatment of the inward propagation of the convective instability, caused by the steep rise of the radiative opacity occurring when the convective envelope penetrates the H-depleted regio…
We discuss the synthesis of some short-lived isotopes and of 23Na in thermally pulsing AGB stars with initial mass of 2 Msun and two different metallicities (Z=1.5e-2, corresponding to the metal amount in the Sun, and Z=1e-4), representative of disk and halo stars, respectively. The different nucleosynthesis channels are illustrated in some details. As previously found, the 13C formed after each third dredge up episode is usually completely consumed by alpha captures before the onset of the subsequent thermal pulse, releasing neutrons. This is the most efficient neutron source in low mass AGB …
Recent advances in constructing stellar evolution models of hydrogen-deficient post-asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars are presented. Hydrogen-deficiency can originate from mixing and subsequent convective burning of protons in the deeper layers during a thermal pulse on the post-AGB (VLTP). Dredge-up alone may also be responsible for hydrogen-deficiency of post-AGB stars. Models of the last thermal pulse on the AGB with very small envelope masses have shown efficient third dredge-up. The hydrogen content of the envelope is diluted sufficiently to produce H-deficient post-AGB stars (AFTP). Mo…
(Abridged) We examine the effects of cool bottom processing (CBP) on several isotopic ratios in the convective envelope during the TP-AGB phase of evolution in a 1.5 M_sun initial-mass star of solar initial composition. We use a parametric model which treats extra mixing by introducing mass flow between the convective envelope and the underlying radiative zone. The parameters of this model are the mass circulation rate (Mdot) and the maximum temperature (T_P) experienced by the circulating material. The effects of nuclear reactions in the flowing matter were calculated using a set of structure…
We present an evolutionary sequence of a low mass star from the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) through its post-AGB stage, during which its surface chemical composition changes from hydrogen-rich to strongly hydrogen-deficient as consequence of a very late thermal pulse, following the so-called born-again scenario. The internal structure and abundance changes during this pulse are computed with a numerical method which allows the physically consistent calculation of stellar layers where thermonuclear and mixing time scale are comparable - a situation which occurs when the helium flash driven co…
Gravitational contraction always generates a radially directed momentum flux. A particularly simple example occurs in the electron-degenerate cores of AGB stars, which contract steadily under the addition of helium ashes from shell hydrogen burning. The resulting momentum flux is quantified here. And since the cores of AGB stars lack efficient momentum cancellation mechanisms, they can maintain equilibrium by exporting their excess momentum flux to the stellar envelope, which disposes of much of it in a low velocity wind. Gravitational contraction easily accounts for the momentum flux in the s…
The concept of overshoot has already been considered for numerous cases in stellar evolution calculations. We explore the consequences of overshoot at the convection zone which forms during the He-flash (thermal pulse) in AGB stars. We find dramatic changes for the abundances within the intershell region as well as for the mechanism of the 3rd dredge-up. That means that both the predicted evolution of structural quantities as well as the chemical evolution at the surface will be different, if overshoot is considered. We also present evidence for the presence of overshoot during the He-flash fr…
The concomitant overabundances of C, N and s-process elements are commonly ascribed to the complex interplay of nucleosynthesis, mixing and mass loss taking place in Asymptotic Giant Branch stars. At low metallicity, the enhancement of C and/or N may be up to 1000 times larger than the original iron content and significantly affects the stellar structure and its evolution. For this reason, the interpretation of the already available and still growing amount of data concerning C-rich metal-poor stars belonging to our Galaxy as well as to dwarf spheroidal galaxies would require reliable AGB stel…
Observations of planetary nebulae (PNe) by Sterling, Dinerstein and Bowers have revealed abundances in the neutron-capture element Germanium (Ge) from solar to factors of 3 -- 10 above solar. The enhanced Ge is an indication that the slow-neutron capture process (s process) operated in the parent star during the thermally-pulsing asymptotic giant branch (TP-AGB) phase. We compute the detailed nucleosynthesis of a series of AGB models to estimate the surface enrichment of Ge near the end of the AGB. A partial mixing zone of constant mass is included at the deepest extent of each dredge-up episo…
New axisymmetric (2D) models for dust-driven winds of C-stars are presented which include hydrodynamics with radiation pressure on dust, equilibrium chemistry and time-dependent dust formation with coupled grey Monte Carlo radiative transfer. Considering the most simple case without stellar pulsation (hydrostatic inner boundary condition) these models reveal a more complex picture of the dust formation and wind acceleration as compared to earlier published spherically symmetric (1D) models. The so-called exterior $κ$-mechanism causes radial oscillations with short phases of active dust formati…
The chemical evolution of the Galaxy is followed for the elements affected by neutron capture, in particular for those in the atomic number range 56 to 63 (Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm and Eu). Neutrons by the major 13^C source, released in radiative conditions in the interpulse periods of TP-AGB stars, give rise to an efficient s-processing, making low-mass AGB the major contributors to the chemical evolution of heavy elements. The s-process scenario, characterized is analyzed using AGB stellar evolutionary calculations with the FRANEC Code (FRASCATI Raphson-Newton Evolutionary Code), and are appli…
Type I planetary nebulae (PNe) have high He/H and N/O ratios and are thought to be descendants of stars with initial masses of ~3-8Msun. These characteristics indicate that the progenitor stars experienced proton-capture nucleosynthesis at the base of the convective envelope, in addition to the slow neutron capture process operating in the He-shell (the s-process). We compare the predicted abundances of elements up to Sr from models of intermediate-mass asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars to measured abundances in Type I PNe. In particular, we compare predictions and observations for the light…
In low-mass Red Giant Branch (RGB) and Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars, anomalous mixing must transport material near the hydrogen-burning shell to the convective envelope. Recently, it was suggested that buoyant magnetic flux tubes could supply the necessary transport rate (Busso et al. 2007). The fields are assumed to originate from a dynamo operating in the stellar interior. Here, we show what is required of an $α-Ω$ dynamo in the envelope of an AGB star to maintain these fields. Differential rotation and rotation drain via turbulent dissipation and Poynting flux, so if shear can be res…
(abridged) We model the nucleosynthesis during the thermal pulse phase of a rotating, solar metallicity AGB star of 3M_sun. Rotationally induced mixing during the thermal pulses produces a layer (~2E-5M_sun) on top of the CO-core where large amounts of protons and C12 co-exist. We follow the abundance evolution in this layer, in particular that of the neutron source C13 and of the neutron poison N14. In our AGB model mixing persists during the entire interpulse phase due to the steep angular velocity gradient at the core-envelope interface. We follow the neutron production during the interpuls…
The available information on isotopic abundances in the atmospheres of low-mass Red Giant Branch (RGB) and Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars requires that episodes of extensive mixing occur below the convective envelope, reaching down to layers close to the hydrogen burning shell (Cool Bottom Processing). Recently \cite{Busso:2007jw} suggested that dynamo-produced buoyant magnetic flux tubes could provide the necessary physical mechanisms and also supply sufficient transport rates. Here, we present an $α-Ω$ dynamo in the envelope of an RGB/AGB star in which shear and rotation drain via turbu…
We present new rates for the 22Ne(alpha, n)25Mg and 22Ne(alpha,gamma)26Mg reactions, with uncertainties that have been considerably reduced compared to previous estimates, and we study how these new rates affect the production of the heavy magnesium isotopes in models of intermediate mass Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars of different initial compositions. All the models have deep third dredge-up, hot bottom burning and mass loss. Calculations have been performed using the two most commonly used estimates of the 22Ne + alpha rates as well as the new recommended rates, and with combinations o…
We have studied the evolution of intermediate mass (M.ge.5Mo) zero metal (Z=0) stars with particular attention to the AGB phase. At variance with previous claims we find that these stars experience thermal instability (the so called thermal pulses). The critical quantity which controls the onset of a thermally pulsing phase is the amount of CNO in the envelope during the AGB. For these stars the central He burning starts in the blue side of the HR diagram and the 1^{st} dredge up does not take place. Then the envelope maintains its initial composition up to the beginning of the AGB phase. Howe…
