On the huge mass loss of B[e] supergiants in the Magellanic Clouds
Abstract
B[e] supergiants are known to possess circumstellar disks in which molecules and dust can form. The formation mechanism and the resulting structure of these disks is, however, still controversial. Nevertheless, to protect the disk material from the dissociating stellar radiation and to allow for dust formation in the vicinity of a luminous supergiant star, the amount of mass comprised within these disks must be huge. We study the amount of hydrogen neutral material by means of an analysis of the strong [O i] emission lines in our optical high-resolution FEROS spectra of two B[e] supergiants, the edge-on system S 65 in the SMC, and the pole-on system R 126 in the LMC. In addition, we study the possible disk dynamics of S 65, based on a simultaneous line-profile modeling. We find that the [O i] emission lines in S 65 must originate either from an outflowing disk, in which the outflow velocity is slowly decreasing outwards, or from a Keplerian rotating ring, resulting from an ejection event.
- Publication:
-
The Magellanic System: Stars, Gas, and Galaxies
- Pub Date:
- March 2009
- DOI:
- Bibcode:
- 2009IAUS..256..431K
- Keywords:
-
- circumstellar matter;
- stars: individual (R 126;
- S 65);
- stars: mass loss;
- supergiants;
- stars: winds;
- outflows;
- Magellanic Clouds