On an Early - Post-AGB Instability

2023/03/20 by Alfred Gautschy, Gautschy, Alfred
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #FOS: Physical sciences #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2303.11374

openalex publication_date 2023/03/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Dynamical stellar-evolution modeling through the AGB phase reveals that radial pulsations with very fast-growing amplitudes develop if the luminosity to mass ratio of stars with tenuous envelopes exceeds a critical limit. An instability going nonlinear already after a few pulsation cycles might qualify as a source of the superwind - postulated to shed a substantial part of a star's envelope over a very short time - of hitherto persistently mysterious nature.

Related

• Dynamics of extended AGB star envelopes
• The loss of large amplitude pulsations at the end of AGB evolution
• Stellar structure and mass loss during the early post asymptotic giant branch
• Pulsations in red supergiants with high L/M ratio -- Implications for the stellar and circumstellar structure of supernova progenitors
• AGB and post-AGB stars