Seminar: Unravelling the Winds of Dying Stars: Dust opacities and Pulsation properties

Stars with initial masses of about 0.8–8 solar masses evolve through an asymptotic giant branch (AGB) phase, during which they experience extensive mass loss through strong stellar winds. These winds are driven by a two-step process: stellar pulsations generate shock waves that levitate material from the stellar surface, enabling the formation of dust grains, after which radiation pressure on the dust accelerates the material to form a wind.

During my PhD, I have investigated how dust and pulsation properties affect the winds of AGB stars. I have computed large grids of radiation-hydrodynamical DARWIN models and explored the effects of different input parameters on the resulting winds. In particular, I investigate the impact of dust optical properties, as well as pulsation periods and phase shifts between radial and luminosity variations. Together, these studies provide insight into how uncertainties in dust and pulsation properties affect our predictions of AGB stellar winds.