The evolution of red supergiant mass-loss rates. Issue 1 (11th December 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Beasor, Emma R; Davies, Ben
• Is Part Of: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Volume 475:Issue 1(2018)
• Page Start: 55
• Page End: 62
• Publication Date: 2017-12-11
• Subjects: stars: evolution -- stars: massive -- stars: mass-loss -- supergiants; Astronomy -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 520.5
• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stx3174
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0035-8711

Abstract

Abstract: The fate of massive stars with initial masses >8 M⊙ depends largely on the mass-loss rate ($\dot{M}$ ) in the end stages of their lives. Red supergiants (RSGs) are the direct progenitors to Type II-P core collapse supernovae (SNe), but there is uncertainty regarding the scale and impact of any mass-loss during this phase. Here, we used near and mid-IR photometry and the radiative transfer code dusty to determine luminosity and $\dot{M}$ values for the RSGs in two Galactic clusters (NGC 7419 and χ Per) where the RSGs are all of similar initial mass ( M initial ∼ 16 M⊙ ), allowing us to study how $\dot{M}$ changes with time along an evolutionary sequence. We find a clear, tight correlation between luminosity and $\dot{M}$ suggesting the scatter seen in studies of field stars is caused by stars of similar luminosity being of different initial masses. From our results, we estimate how much mass a 16 M⊙ star would lose during the RSG phase, finding a star of this mass would lose a total of 0.61$^{+0.92}_{-0.31}$ M⊙ . This is much less than expected for $\dot{M}$ prescriptions currently used in evolutionary models.