An edge-on translucent dust disk around the nearest AGB star L2 Puppis - VLT/NACO spectro-imaging from 1.04 to 4.05 microns and VLTI interferometry

Abstract

As the nearest known AGB star (d=64pc) and one of the brightest (mK-2), L2 Pup is a particularly interesting benchmark object to monitor the final stages of stellar evolution. We report new lucky imaging observations of this star with the VLT/NACO adaptive optics system in twelve narrow band filters covering the 1.0-4.0 microns wavelength range. These diffraction limited images reveal an extended circumstellar dust lane in front of the star, that exhibits a high opacity in the J band and becomes translucent in the H and K bands. In the L band, extended thermal emission from the dust is detected. We reproduce these observations using Monte-Carlo radiative transfer modeling of a dust disk with the RADMC-3D code. We also present new interferometric observations with the VLTI/VINCI and MIDI instruments. We measure in the K band an upper limit to the limb-darkened angular diameter of theta_LD = 17.9 +/- 1.6 mas, converting to a maximum linear radius of R = 123 +/- 14 Rsun. Considering the geometry of the extended K band emission in the NACO images, this upper limit is probably close to the actual angular diameter of the star. The position of L2 Pup in the Herzsprung-Russell diagram indicates that this star has a mass around 2 Msun and is probably experiencing an early stage of the asymptotic giant branch. We do not detect any stellar companion of L2 Pup in our adaptive optics and interferometric observations, and we attribute its apparent astrometric wobble in the Hipparcos data to variable lighting effects on its circumstellar material. We however do not exclude the presence of a binary companion, as the large loop structure extending to more than 10 AU to the North-East of the disk in our L band images may be the result of interaction between the stellar wind of L2 Pup and a hidden secondary object. The geometric configuration that we propose, with a large dust disk seen almost edge-on, appears particularly favorable to test and develop our understanding of the formation of bipolar nebulae.

arXiv comment16 pages, 15 figures

References in corpus (45)

• Astropy: A Community Python Package for Astronomy
• Validation of the new Hipparcos reduction
• Correcting for the Effects of Interstellar Extinction
• The AKARI/IRC Mid-Infrared All-Sky Survey
• The angular size of dwarf stars and subgiants - Surface brightness relations calibrated by interferometry
• Spin down of the core rotation in red giants
• On the use of empirical bolometric corrections for stars
• Scaled solar tracks and isochrones in a large region of the Z-Y plane I. From the ZAMS to the TP-AGB end for 0.15 - 2.5 Mo stars
• Radiative Equilibrium and Temperature Correction in Monte Carlo Radiation Transfer
• AGB Variables and the Mira Period-Luminosity Relation
• Rotational velocities of A-type stars. III. Velocity distributions
• Low Luminosity Companions to White Dwarfs
• Mass loss rates of a sample of irregular and semiregular M-type AGB-variables
• Dust evolution in protoplanetary disks around Herbig Ae/Be stars - The Spitzer view
• Wind Roche-lobe overflow: Application to carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars
• Post-AGB stars with hot circumstellar dust: binarity of the low-amplitude pulsators
• An Improved Model of SiO Maser Emission in Miras
• Extended rotating disks around post-AGB stars
• The COBE DIRBE Point Source Catalog
• Data reduction methods for single-mode optical interferometry - Application to the VLTI two-telescopes beam combiner VINCI
• The close circumstellar environment of Betelgeuse - Adaptive optics spectro-imaging in the near-IR with VLT/NACO
• Prospects for Measuring Differential Rotation in White Dwarfs Through Asteroseismology
• ALMA observations of the Red Rectangle, a preliminary analysis
• The interferometric diameter and internal structure of Sirius A
• Multi-wavelength Diameters of Nearby Miras and Semiregulars
• Astrometric Orbits for Hipparcos Stochastic Binaries
• Astrometric and photometric monitoring of GQ Lup and its sub-stellar companion
• Search for surface magnetic fields in Mira stars. First detection in chi Cyg
• Probing the inner wind of AGB stars: Interferometric observations of SiO millimetre line emission from the oxygen-rich stars R Dor and L2 Pup
• The light curve of the semiregular variable L2 Puppis: II. Evidence for solar-like excitation of the oscillations
• The light curve of the semiregular variable L2 Puppis: I. A recent dimming event from dust
• Wide field interferometric imaging with single-mode fibers
• A study of bright Southern Long Period Variables
• A silicate disk in the heart of the Ant
• A disc in the heart of the Ant nebula
• First NACO observations of the Brown Dwarf LHS 2397aB
• The Very Slow Wind From the Pulsating Semiregular Red Giant L2 Pup
• A disk inside the bipolar planetary nebula M2-9
• Spectroscopic binaries among Hipparcos M giants III. The eccentricity-period diagram and mass-transfer signatures
• ALMA Observations of the Coldest Place in the Universe: The Boomerang Nebula
• Searching for X-ray emission from AGB stars
• Asymmetric silicate dust distribution toward the silicate carbon star BM Gem
• Stellar and Molecular Radii of a Mira Star: First Observations with the Keck Interferometer Grism
• High spectral resolution spectroscopy of the SiO fundamental lines in red giants and red supergiants with VLT/VISIR
• Long-term polarization observations of Mira variable stars suggest asymmetric structures

Cited by in corpus (33)

• Stellar and substellar companions from Gaia EDR3 -- Proper motion anomaly and resolved common proper motion pairs
• New observations and models of circumstellar CO line emission of AGB stars in the Herschel SUCCESS programme
• ALMA observations of the nearby AGB star L2 Puppis - I. Mass of the central star and detection of a candidate planet
• Planetary Nebulae: Sources of Enlightenment
• The dust disk and companion of the nearby AGB star L2 Puppis - SPHERE/ZIMPOL polarimetric imaging at visible wavelengths
• The infrared spectral properties of Magellanic carbon stars
• Determining the effects of clumping and porosity on the chemistry in a non-uniform AGB outflow
• Accreting protoplanets: Spectral signatures and magnitude of gas and dust extinction at H alpha
• The impact of stellar companion UV photons on the chemistry of the circumstellar environments of AGB stars
• The Role of Internal Photons on the Chemistry of the Circumstellar Envelopes of AGB Stars
• Dissecting the AGB star L2 Puppis: a torus in the making
• The VLTI/MIDI view on the inner mass loss of evolved stars from the Herschel MESS sample
• Three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of L2 Puppis
• A disk asymmetry in motion around the B[e] star MWC158
• ALMA observations of the nearby AGB star L${}_2$ Puppis. II. Gas disk properties derived from ${}^{12}$CO and ${}^{13}$CO $J=$3$-$2 emission
• Investigating Anomalous Photochemistry in the Inner Wind of IRC+10216 Through Interferometric Observations of HC${}_3$N
• Chemical modelling of dust-gas chemistry within AGB outflows III. Photoprocessing of the ice and return to the ISM
• From Solar-like to Mira stars: a unifying description of stellar pulsators in the presence of stochastic noise
• Chemical modelling of dust-gas chemistry within AGB outflows -- II. Effect of the dust-grain size distribution
• Radiation-pressure-driven sub-Keplerian rotation of the disc around the AGB star L2 Pup
• AMBER-NACO aperture-synthesis imaging of the half-obscured central star and the edge-on disk of the red giant L2 Pup
• The Role of Ultraviolet Photons in Circumstellar Astrochemistry
• How to disentangle geometry and mass-loss rate from AGB-star spectral energy distributions -- The case of EP Aqr
• Morpho-kinematics of the wind of AGB star L${}_2$ Pup
• Disentangling physics and chemistry in AGB outflows: revealing degeneracies when adding complexity
• Evidence of a Mira-like tail and bow shock about the semi-regular variable V CVn from four decades of polarization measurements
• The envelope of the semiregular variable V CVn
• The nearby AGB star L2 Puppis: the birth of a planetary nebula ?
• The evolutionary state of the red giant star L${}_2$ Puppis
• Infrared interferometric imaging of the compact dust disk around the AGB star HR3126 with the bipolar Toby Jug Nebula
• Morphology and kinematics of the gas envelope of the variable AGB star ${\pi }^1$ Gruis
• Olivier Chesneau's work on low mass stars
• The fate of Earth during the Sun's giant phases: New constraints from ab initio tidal modelling and AGB mass loss