On Magnesium Sulfide as the Carrier of the 30micron Emission Feature in Evolved Stars

Abstract

A large number of carbon-rich evolved objects (asymptotic giant branch stars, protoplanetary nebulae, and planetary nebulae) in both the Milky Way galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds exhibit an enigmatic broad emission feature at 30 micron. This feature, extending from 24 micron to 45 micron, is very strong and accounts for up to 30% of the total infrared luminosity of the object. In literature it is tentatively attributed to magnesium sulfide (MgS) dust. Using the prototypical protoplanetary nebula around HD 56126 for illustrative purpose, however, in this work we show that in order for MgS to be responsible for the 30 micron feature, one would require an amount of MgS mass substantially exceeding what would be available in this source. We therefore argue that MgS is unlikely the carrier of the 30 micron feature seen in this source and in other sources as well.

16 pages, 3 figures, accepted by ApJ

References in corpus (2)

• Condensation of MgS in outflows from carbon stars
• On the Carriers of the 21 Micron Emission Feature in Post-Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars

Cited by in corpus (34)

• Detection of C60 in the proto-planetary nebula IRAS 01005+7910
• The SAGE-Spec Spitzer Legacy program: The life-cycle of dust and gas in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Point source classification I
• The inner wind of IRC+10216 revisited: New exotic chemistry and diagnostic for dust condensation in carbon stars
• Chemical equilibrium in AGB atmospheres: Successes, failures, and prospects for small molecules, clusters, and condensates
• Carbon-rich dust past the asymptotic giant branch: aliphatics, aromatics, and fullerenes in the Magellanic Clouds
• Physical Properties of Fullerene-containing Galactic Planetary Nebulae
• Luminosities and mass-loss rates of Local Group AGB stars and Red Supergiants
• Detection of C60 in embedded young stellar objects, a Herbig Ae/Be star and an unusual post-AGB star
• The SAGE-Spec Spitzer Legacy program: The life-cycle of dust and gas in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Point source classification III
• Spitzer Infrared Spectrographic point source classification in the Small Magellanic Cloud
• Alpha Element Abundances in a Large Sample of Galactic Planetary Nebulae
• The nature of dust in compact Galactic planetary nebulae from Spitzer spectra
• First Stars XIV. Sulfur abundances in extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars
• The infrared spectral properties of Magellanic carbon stars
• The detection of C60 in the well-characterized planetary nebula M1-11
• Sulphur-bearing molecules in AGB stars I: The occurrence of hydrogen sulfide
• Study of CS, SiO, and SiS abundances in carbon star envelopes: Assessing their role as gas-phase precursors of dust
• A Spitzer/IRS spectral study of a sample of galactic carbon-rich proto-planetary nebulae
• C/O ratios in planetary nebulae with dual-dust chemistry from faint optical recombination lines
• Probing the dusty stellar populations of the Local Volume Galaxies with JWST/MIRI
• Modeling dust emission in PN IC 418
• Observational evidence for composite grains in an AGB outflow: MgS in the extreme carbon star LL Peg
• On Iron Monoxide Nanoparticles as a Carrier of the Mysterious 21 Micrometer Emission Feature in Post-Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars
• The Role of Dust in Models of Population Synthesis
• On the Relation between the Mysterious 21 Micrometer Emission Feature of Post-Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars and Their Mass Loss Rates
• A Tale of Three Mysterious Spectral Features in Carbon-Rich Evolved Stars: The 21 Micrometer, 30 Micrometer, and "Unidentified Infrared" Emission Features
• Chemical Abundances in the PN Wray16-423 in the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy: Constraining the Dust Composition
• The dust and gas content of carbon stars toward the Galactic Halo
• Molecular gas in 21 and 30 micron sources: the 2\,mm and 1.3\,mm spectra of IRAS\,21318+5631 and 22272+5435
• 30-micron sources in galaxies with different metallicities
• Unidentified species in envelopes around carbon stars
• Stellar dust production and composition in the Magellanic Clouds
• Molecular processes from the AGB to the PN stage
• An Infrared Photometric and Spectroscopic Study of Post-AGB Stars