Dust formation in winds of long-period variables. II. Dust energetics, optical properties, chemistry, time scales.

The authors discuss the necessary physical input for the construction of dust driven winds of pulsating giants based on an implicit, adaptive and conservative formulation of the dust and radiation hydrodynamical equations. Several examples illustrate the importance of including chemistry as well as time-dependent dust formation in such objects. The optical properties of C-rich dust grains are examined carefully with respect to the small particle limit to provide the necessary prerequisites for the subsequent calculations.