An Infrared Census of DUST in Nearby Galaxies with Spitzer (DUSTiNGS). IV. Discovery of High-Redshift AGB Analogs

Abstract

The survey for DUST in Nearby Galaxies with Spitzer (DUSTiNGS) identified several candidate Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars in nearby dwarf galaxies and showed that dust can form even in very metal-poor systems (Z ~ 0.008 $Z_{\odot }$). Here, we present a follow-up survey with WFC3/IR on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), using filters that are capable of distinguishing carbon-rich (C-type) stars from oxygen-rich (M-type) stars: F127M, F139M, and F153M. We include six star-forming DUSTiNGS galaxies (NGC 147, IC 10, Pegasus dIrr, Sextans B, Sextans A, and Sag DIG), all more metal-poor than the Magellanic Clouds and spanning 1 dex in metallicity. We double the number of dusty AGB stars known in these galaxies and find that most are carbon rich. We also find 26 dusty M-type stars, mostly in IC 10. Given the large dust excess and tight spatial distribution of these M-type stars, they are most likely on the upper end of the AGB mass range (stars undergoing Hot Bottom Burning). Theoretical models do not predict significant dust production in metal-poor M-type stars, but we see evidence for dust excess around M-type stars even in the most metal-poor galaxies in our sample (12+log(O/H) = 7.26-7.50). The low metallicities and inferred high stellar masses (up to ~10 $M_{\odot }$) suggest that AGB stars can produce dust very early in the evolution of galaxies (~30 Myr after they form), and may contribute significantly to the dust reservoirs seen in high-redshift galaxies.

arXiv comment18 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

References in corpus (89)

• Astropy: A Community Python Package for Astronomy
• Measuring Reddening with SDSS Stellar Spectra and Recalibrating SFD
• Dwarf Galaxies of the Local Group
• Gaia Data Release 1. Summary of the astrometric, photometric, and survey properties
• The observed properties of dwarf galaxies in and around the Local Group
• A new generation of PARSEC-COLIBRI stellar isochrones including the TP-AGB phase
• WFPC2 Stellar Photometry with HSTphot
• Multiple populations in globular clusters. Lessons learned from the Milky Way globular clusters
• The Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) Spectral Library: Cool Stars
• The Dawes Review 2: Nucleosynthesis and stellar yields of low and intermediate-mass single stars
• Star counts in the Galaxy. Simulating from very deep to very shallow photometric surveys with the TRILEGAL code
• The Star Formation Histories of Local Group Dwarf Galaxies I. Hubble Space Telescope / Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 Observations
• On Extending the Mass-Metallicity Relation of Galaxies by 2.5 Decades in Stellar Mass
• The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury
• Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distances. II. Zero-Point Calibration
• Stellar yields from metal-rich asymptotic giant branch models
• Breathing FIRE: How Stellar Feedback Drives Radial Migration, Rapid Size Fluctuations, and Population Gradients in Low-Mass Galaxies
• Super and massive AGB stars - IV. Final fates - Initial to final mass relation
• Stellar sources of dust in the high redshift Universe
• Discovery of the Dust-Enshrouded Progenitor of SN 2008S with Spitzer
• Parameterising the third dredge-up in asymptotic giant branch stars
• Spitzer SAGE survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud II: Evolved Stars and Infrared Color Magnitude Diagrams
• Deviations from the Local Hubble Flow. I. The Tip of the Red Giant Branch as a Distance Indicator
• Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distances. I. Optimization of a Maximum Likelihood Algorithm
• Luminosities and mass-loss rates of SMC and LMC AGB stars and Red Supergiants
• A Bayesian Approach to Locating the Red Giant Branch Tip Magnitude (Part II); Distances to the Satellites of M31
• Synthetic photometry for carbon rich giants, I. Hydrostatic dust-free models
• The wind speeds, dust content, and mass-loss rates of evolved AGB and RSG stars at varying metallicity
• Surveying the Agents of Galaxy Evolution in the Tidally-Stripped, Low Metallicity Small Magellanic Cloud (SAGE-SMC) II. Cool Evolved Stars
• Light nuclei in galactic globular clusters : constraints on the self-enrichment scenario from nucleosynthesis
• The Origin of Dust in the Early Universe: Probing the Star Formation History of Galaxies by their Dust Content
• The mid- and far-infrared colours of AGB and post-AGB stars
• The Mass-Loss Return From Evolved Stars to The Large Magellanic Cloud VI: Luminosities and Mass-Loss Rates on Population Scales
• Dust formation around AGB and SAGB stars: a trend with metallicity?
• The dust budget crisis in high-redshift submillimetre galaxies
• Dust production 680-850 million years after the Big Bang
• Feedback and the Formation of Dwarf Galaxy Stellar Halos
• Molecules and dust production in the Magellanic Clouds
• Local Group Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies: II. Stellar Kinematics to Large Radii in NGC 147 and NGC 185
• SPIRITS: Uncovering Unusual Infrared Transients With Spitzer
• The SAGE-Spec Spitzer Legacy program: The life-cycle of dust and gas in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Giants in the globular cluster omega Centauri: dust production, mass loss and distance
• Rb-rich Asymptotic Giant Branch stars in the Magellanic Clouds
• AGB Stars in the Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy
• The ACS LCID project. IX. Imprints of the early Universe in the radial variation of the star formation history of dwarf galaxies
• Spitzer spectroscopy of carbon stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud
• Resolved Near-Infrared Stellar Populations in Nearby Galaxies
• Synthetic photometry for M and K giants and stellar evolution: hydrostatic dust-free model atmospheres and chemical abundances
• The evolved-star dust budget of the Small Magellanic Cloud: the critical role of a few key players
• An Infrared Census of DUST in Nearby Galaxies with Spitzer (DUSTiNGS), II. Discovery of Metal-poor Dusty AGB Stars
• Chemistry and Kinematics of the Late-Forming Dwarf Irregular Galaxies Leo A, Aquarius, and Sagittarius DIG
• An Infrared Census of DUST in Nearby Galaxies with Spitzer (DUSTiNGS), I. Overview
• Near-IR Spectra of Red Supergiants and Giants. I- Models with Solar and with Mixing-Induced Surface Abundance Ratios
• Dust Destruction Rates and Lifetimes in the Magellanic Clouds
• The SAGE-Spec Spitzer Legacy program: The life-cycle of dust and gas in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Point source classification III
• The influence of supernova remnants on the interstellar medium in the Large Magellanic Cloud seen at 20--600 $\mu$m wavelengths
• Spitzer Infrared Spectrographic point source classification in the Small Magellanic Cloud
• Hubble Tarantula Treasury Project: Unraveling Tarantula's Web. I. Observational overview and first results
• The M33 Variable Star Population Revealed by Spitzer
• Fundamental parameters, integrated RGB mass loss and dust production in the Galactic globular cluster 47 Tucanae
• The UK Infrared Telescope M33 monitoring project. III. Feedback from dusty stellar winds in the central square kiloparsec
• Discovery of Extreme Carbon Stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• A Spitzer Space Telescope Atlas of omega Centauri: The Stellar Population, Mass Loss, and the Intracluster Medium
• Is there a metallicity ceiling to form carbon stars? - A novel technique reveals a scarcity of C stars in the inner M31 disk
• Spitzer Space Telescope spectral observations of AGB stars in the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy
• Carbon-rich dust production in metal-poor galaxies in the Local Group
• Constraining dust properties in Circumstellar Envelopes of C-stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud: optical constants and grain size of Carbon dust
• The infrared spectral properties of Magellanic carbon stars
• DUSTiNGS III: Distribution of Intermediate-Age and Old Stellar Populations in Disks and Outer Extremities of Dwarf Galaxies
• Dust Production and Mass Loss in the Galactic Globular Cluster NGC 362
• The Local Group Galaxy IC1613 and its Asymptotic Giant Branch Variables
• Census of Self-Obscured Massive Stars in Nearby Galaxies with Spitzer: Implications for Understanding the Progenitors of SN 2008S-Like Transients
• The spatial and age distribution of stellar populations in DDO 190
• The extended structure of the dwarf irregular galaxies Sextans A and Sextans B. Signatures of tidal distortion in the outskirts of the Local Group
• Long period variable stars in NGC 147 and NGC 185. I. Their star formation histories
• A Spitzer/IRAC Census of the Asymptotic Giant Branch Populations in Local Group Dwarfs. I. WLM
• Modelling the alumina abundance of oxygen-rich evolved stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• The Sagittarius dwarf irregular galaxy: metallicity and stellar populations
• Identification of a Class of Low-Mass Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars Struggling to Become Carbon Stars in the Magellanic Clouds
• Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars in the Sculptor Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy
• Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars in the Leo I Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy
• New abundance measurements in UKS 1927-177, a very metal-poor galaxy in the Local Group
• A Spitzer IRAC Census of the Asymptotic Giant Branch Populations in Local Group Dwarfs. II. IC 1613
• Long-period variables in NGC147 and NGC185
• VISTA variables in the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy: pulsation- vs. dust-driven winds on the giant branches
• A Remarkable Oxygen-rich Asymptotic Giant Branch Variable in the Sagittarius Dwarf Irregular Galaxy
• Near-infrared spectroscopy of candidate red supergiant stars in clusters
• Seeing Red in M32: Constraints on the Stellar Content from Near- and Mid-Infrared Observations and Applications for Studies of More Distant Galaxies
• On the HI-Hole and AGB Stellar Population of the Sagittarius Dwarf Irregular Galaxy

Cited by in corpus (27)

• The CosmoVerse White Paper: Addressing observational tensions in cosmology with systematics and fundamental physics
• Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Mira Variables in the Type Ia Supernova Host NGC 1559: An Alternative Candle to Measure the Hubble Constant
• Constraining the thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch phase with resolved stellar populations in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• A Near-Infrared Period-Luminosity Relation for Miras in NGC 4258, an Anchor for a New Distance Ladder
• Dust attenuation evolution in $z\sim 2$-$12$ JWST galaxies
• Pulsation-triggered dust production by asymptotic giant branch stars
• The Mira Distance to M101 and a 4% Measurement of H0
• An Infrared Census Of Dust In Nearby Galaxies With Spitzer (DUSTiNGS): V. The Period-luminosity Relation For Dusty Metal-Poor AGB Stars
• Carbon star wind models at solar and sub-solar metallicities: a comparative study. I. Mass loss and the properties of dust-driven winds
• The onset of the AGB wind tied to a transition between sequences in the period-luminosity diagram
• Evolved stars in the Local Group galaxies - II. AGB, RSG stars and dust production in IC10
• First stellar spectroscopy in Leo P
• A Dramatic Decrease in Carbon Star Formation in M31
• MCR-TRGB: A Multiwavelength-Covariant, Robust Tip of the Red Giant Branch Measurement Method
• Dusty Stellar Birth and Death in the Metal-Poor Galaxy NGC 6822
• The infrared view of dust and molecules around V4334 Sgr (Sakurai's Object): a 20-year retrospective
• Investigating episodic mass loss in evolved massive stars: I. Spectroscopy of dusty massive stars in ten southern galaxies
• Discovery of stars surrounded by iron dust in the LMC
• Luminous AGB variables in the dwarf Irregular Galaxy, NGC 3109
• A Census of Thermally-Pulsing AGB stars in the Andromeda Galaxy and a First Estimate of their Contribution to the Global Dust Budget
• Circumstellar CO in metal-poor stellar winds: the highly irradiated globular cluster star 47 Tucanae V3
• SOFIA/HAWC+ observations of the Crab Nebula: dust properties from polarised emission
• The Isaac Newton Telescope monitoring survey of Local Group dwarf galaxies--V. The star formation history of Sagittarius dwarf irregular galaxy derived from long period variable stars
• Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars in the Nearby Dwarf Galaxy Leo P
• The impact of third dredge-up on the mass loss of Mira variables
• The Local Ultraviolet to Infrared Treasury I. Survey Overview of the Broadband Imaging
• The Nearby Evolved Stars Survey II: Constructing a volume-limited sample and first results from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope