A HIFI preview of warm molecular gas around χ Cygni: first detection of H2O emission toward an S-type AGB star

Aims: A set of new, sensitive, and spectrally resolved, sub-millimeter line observations are used to probe the warm circumstellar gas around the S-type AGB star χ Cyg. The observed lines involve high rotational quantum numbers, which, combined with previously obtained lower-frequency data, make it possible to study in detail the chemical and physical properties of, essentially, the entire circumstellar envelope of χ Cyg.
Methods: The data were obtained using the HIFI instrument aboard Herschel, whose high spectral resolution provides valuable information about the line profiles. Detailed, non-LTE, radiative transfer modelling, including dust radiative transfer coupled with a dynamical model, has been performed to derive the temperature, density, and velocity structure of the circumstellar envelope.
Results: We report the first detection of circumstellar H₂O rotational emission lines in an S-star. Using the high-J CO lines to derive the parameters for the circumstellar envelope, we modelled both the ortho- and para-H₂O lines. Our modelling results are consistent with the velocity structure expected for a dust-driven wind. The derived total H₂O abundance (relative to H₂) is (1.1±0.2) × 10^-5, much lower than that in O-rich stars. The derived ortho-to-para ratio of 2.1±0.6 is close to the high-temperature equilibrium limit, consistent with H₂O being formed in the photosphere.

Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.