Publications
of the
MPIfR Optical & Infrared Interferometry Group

A. Men'shchikov, Y. Balega, T. Blöcker, R. Osterbart, and G. Weigelt:

Structure and properties of IRC+10216

in Post-AGB objects (protoplanetary nebulae) as a phase of stellar evolution,
R. Szczerba, S. Gorny (eds.), Kluwer, Dordrecht, p. 343-350 (2001)

Abstract. We present selected results of the first detailed, two-dimensional radiative transfer modeling of the dusty envelope around the carbon star IRC+10216. The model reproduces very well the entire beam-matched spectral energy distribution of IRC+10216 from optical to centimeter wavelengths (at several phases of stellar luminosity), observed intensity profiles of the object at 1.25, 2.2, 10.5, 50, 100µm, and 1.3mm, a 10.5µm lunar occultation intensity profile, our high-resolution J, H, K, and H-K bispectrum speckle-interferometry images, and visibilities in J, H, K, L, M, and N bands. We present a new, accurate identification of the carriers of the well-known 11.3µm and 30µm dust features in the spectrum of IRC+10216. The dust model found in this study can also be successfully applied to many other carbon stars exhibiting broad emission features in the 10.3-12.6µm and 25-37µm wavelength regions. A firm result of our modeling is that the brightest compact near-infrared peak observed in IRC+10216 is not the direct light from the underlying star. In contrast to previous suggestions, it is the radiation emitted and scattered in the optically thinner southern outflow cavity of a bipolar dense shell moving away from the central star.
bloecker@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de.
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