A homogeneous view of asymptotic giant branch carbon stars as seen by Gaia

Abstract

Carbon stars on the asymptotic giant branch are major contributors to galactic dust enrichment, with gas mass-loss rates up to 1e-4 Msun/yr. We present a homogeneous spectral energy distribution analysis of the Gaia DR3 Golden Sample of carbon stars in the Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds. Our dataset includes 14,747 sources with multi-band photometry from Gaia, 2MASS, and WISE, combined with recent distance and extinction estimates. For a subsample of 2,494 Mira variables, we model multi-band light curves to derive accurate mean magnitudes. Stellar and circumstellar parameters are obtained by fitting observations with a large grid of synthetic spectra computed with the DUSTY radiative transfer code using COMARCS atmospheres. We derive effective temperature, optical depth, and gas mass-loss rate for each source. The distributions peak around Teff = 3150 K, with mass-loss rates spanning 1e-11 to 1e-4 Msun/yr and inner dust temperatures near 1000 K. We find a correlation between variability amplitude and mass-loss rate. This framework provides a statistically robust view of carbon stars across environments with different metallicities. Apparent environmental dependencies are influenced by luminosity distributions and selection effects rather than purely intrinsic metallicity differences. The combined Gaia and WISE selection limits the detection of both highly obscured and faint Magellanic Cloud sources, but the observed trends remain significant within the sampled populations.

arXiv commentAccepted in A&A on 17 February 2026

References in corpus (52)

• The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE): Mission Description and Initial On-orbit Performance
• The Gaia mission
• Gaia Data Release 3: Summary of the content and survey properties
• The Spitzer Space Telescope Mission
• A grid of MARCS model atmospheres for late-type stars I. Methods and general properties
• Estimating distances from parallaxes. V: Geometric and photogeometric distances to 1.47 billion stars in Gaia Early Data Release 3
• The VizieR database of Astronomical Catalogues
• An eclipsing binary distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud accurate to 2 per cent
• The Optical to Mid-Infrared Extinction Law Based on the APOGEE, Gaia DR2, Pan-STARRS1, SDSS, APASS, 2MASS and WISE Surveys
• Self-similarity and scaling behavior of IR emission from radiatively heated dust: I. Theory
• Evidence for TP-AGB stars in high redshift galaxies, and their effect on deriving stellar population parameters
• Improving the open cluster census. II. An all-sky cluster catalogue with Gaia DR3
• Stellar Models and Yields of Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars
• Periodograms for Multiband Astronomical Time Series
• Gaia Data Release 3: Astrophysical parameters inference system (Apsis) I -- methods and content overview
• Constraining the thermally-pulsing asymptotic giant branch phase with resolved stellar populations in the Small Magellanic Cloud
• A distance determination to the Small Magellanic Cloud with an accuracy of better than 2 percent based on late-type eclipsing binary stars
• Gaia Data Release 3: Analysis of the Gaia BP/RP spectra using the General Stellar Parameterizer from Photometry
• Spitzer SAGE survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud II: Evolved Stars and Infrared Color Magnitude Diagrams
• Updated Gaia-2MASS 3D maps of Galactic interstellar dust
• Asymptotic Giant Branch evolution at varying surface C/O ratio: effects of changes in molecular opacities
• Luminosities and mass-loss rates of SMC and LMC AGB stars and Red Supergiants
• Constraining the thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch phase with resolved stellar populations in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Surveying the Agents of Galaxy Evolution in the Tidally-Stripped, Low Metallicity Small Magellanic Cloud (SAGE-SMC) II. Cool Evolved Stars
• Evolution of Thermally Pulsing Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars II. Dust production at varying metallicity
• OGLE-ing the Magellanic System: Optical Reddening Maps of the Large and Small Magellanic Cloud from Red Clump Stars
• The Mass-Loss Return From Evolved Stars to The Large Magellanic Cloud VI: Luminosities and Mass-Loss Rates on Population Scales
• Dusty winds: I. Self-similar solutions
• The mass-loss return from evolved stars to the Large Magellanic Cloud V. The GRAMS carbon-star model grid
• 2-Dust : a Dust Radiative Transfer Code for an Axisymmetric System
• Luminosities and mass-loss rates of Local Group AGB stars and Red Supergiants
• Synthetic photometry for M and K giants and stellar evolution: hydrostatic dust-free model atmospheres and chemical abundances
• The Mass-Loss Return from Evolved Stars to the Large Magellanic Cloud IV: Construction and Validation of a Grid of Models for Oxygen-Rich AGB Stars, Red Supergiants, and Extreme AGB Stars
• The meaning of WISE colours - I. The Galaxy and its satellites
• A new method to identify subclasses among AGB stars using Gaia and 2MASS photometry
• Carbon stars identified from LAMOST DR4 using Machine Learning
• Evolved Massive Stars at Low-metallicity V. Mass-Loss Rate of Red Supergiant Stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud
• Is there a metallicity ceiling to form carbon stars? - A novel technique reveals a scarcity of C stars in the inner M31 disk
• Gaia Data Release 3: Cross-match of Gaia sources with variable objects from the literature
• AGB and SAGB stars: modelling dust production at solar metallicity
• Dust formation in the winds of AGBs: the contribution at low metallicities
• The mass-loss, expansion velocities and dust production rates of carbon stars in the Magellanic Clouds
• Estimating the dust production rate of carbon stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud
• The VMC survey III. Mass-loss rates and luminosities of LMC AGB stars
• Characterisation of Galactic carbon stars and related stars from Gaia-EDR3
• Studying the evolution of AGB stars in the Gaia epoch
• Astrophysical Distance Scale II. Application of the JAGB Method: A Nearby Galaxy Sample
• Properties of carbon stars in the Solar neighbourhood based on Gaia DR2 astrometry
• On the nature of the most obscured C-rich AGB stars in the Magellanic Clouds
• A WISE view on extreme AGB stars
• Carbon stars with increased oxygen and nitrogen abundances: hydrostatic dust-free model atmospheres
• Optical properties of amorphous carbon dust around C-stars: new constraints from 2MASS and Gaia observations