2011A&A...530A.120Z

Asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars are among the largest distributors of dust into the interstellar medium, and it is therefore important to understand the dust formation process and sequence in their strongly pulsating extended atmosphere. By monitoring the AGB star W Hya interferometrically over a few pulsations cycles, the upper atmospheric layers can be studied to obtain information on their chemical gas and dust composition and their intracycle and cycle-to-cycle behavior. Mid-infrared (8-13µm) interferometric data of W Hya were obtained with MIDI/VLTI between April 2007 and September 2009, covering nearly three pulsation cycles. The spectrally dispersed visibility data of all 75 observations were analyzed by fitting a circular fully limb-darkened disk (FDD) model to all data and individual pulsation phases. Asymmetries were studied with an elliptical FDD. Modeling results in an apparent angular FDD diameter of W Hya of about (80±1.2)mas (7.8AU) between 8 and 10µm, which corresponds to an about 1.9 times larger diameter than the photospheric one. The diameter gradually increases up to (105±1.2)mas (10.3AU) at 12µm. In contrast, the FDD relative flux fraction decreases from (0.85±0.02) to (0.77±0.02), reflecting the increased flux contribution from a fully resolved surrounding silicate dust shell. The asymmetric character of the extended structure could be confirmed. An elliptical FDD yields a position angle of (11±20)° and an axis ratio of (0.87±0.07). A weak pulsation dependency is revealed with a diameter increase of (5.4±1.8)mas between visual minimum and maximum, while detected cycle-to-cycle variations are smaller. W Hya's diameter shows a behavior that is very similar to the Mira stars RR Sco and S Ori and can be described by an analogous model. The constant diameter part results from a partially resolved stellar disk, including a close molecular layer of H₂O, while the increase beyond 10µm can most likely be attributed to the contribution of a spatially resolved nearby Al₂O₃ dust shell. Probably due to the low mass-loss rate, close Fe-free silicate dust could not be detected. The results suggest that the formation of amorphous Al₂O₃ occurs mainly at visual minimum. A possible close Al₂O₃ dust shell has now been revealed in a few objects calling for self-consistent dynamic atmospheric models including dust formation close to the star. The asymmetry might be explained by an enhanced dust concentration along an N-S axis.