The global gas and dust budget of the Large Magellanic Cloud: AGB stars and supernovae, and the impact on the ISM evolution

By M. Matsuura, M. Barlow, A. Zijlstra, P. Whitelock, M. Cioni, M. Groenewegen, K. Volk, F. Kemper, T. Kodama, E. Lagadec and 4 more. 2009

170 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We report on an analysis of the gas and dust budget in the the interstellar medium (ISM) of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Recent observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope enable us to study the mid-infrared dust excess of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars in the LMC. This is the first time we can quantitatively assess the gas and dust input from AGB stars over a complete galaxy, fully based on observations. The integrated mass-loss rate over all intermediate and high mass-loss rate carbon-rich AGB candidates in the LMC is 8.5 × 10 −3 M⊙ yr −1 , up to 2.1 × 10 −2 M⊙ yr −1 . This number could be increased up to 2.7×10 −2 M⊙ yr −1 if oxygen-rich stars are included. This is overall consistent with theoretical expectations, considering the star formation rate when these low- and intermediate-mass stars where formed, and the initial mass functions. AGB stars are one of the most important gas sources in the LMC, with supernovae (SNe), which produces about 2–4×10 −2 M⊙ yr −1 . At the moment, the star formation rate exceeds the gas feedback from AGB stars and SNe in the LMC, and the current star formation depends on gas already present in the ISM. This suggests that as the gas in the ISM is exhausted, the star formation rate will eventually decline in the LMC, unless gas is supplied externally. Our estimates suggest ‘a missing dust-mass problem’ in the LMC, which is similarly found in high-z galaxies: the accumulated dust mass from AGB stars and possibly SNe over the dust life time (400–800Myrs) is significant less than the dust mass in the ISM. Another dust source is required, possibly related to star-forming regions.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/298581dd4a10b85e2e15a1d4cc3b52ec2c34b1a6

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Citations in the corpus

• Production of dust by massive stars at high redshift (2011, background): “Typical mass-loss rates obtained observationally and theoretically are between 10−7 and 10−5 M⊙ yr−1 (e.g., Schöier and Olofsson, 2001; Willson, 2007; Mattsson et al, 2008; 13 Matsuura et al, 2009).”
• A COOL DUST FACTORY IN THE CRAB NEBULA: A HERSCHEL STUDY OF THE FILAMENTS (2012, unknown): “…when accounting for dust destruction timescales (e.g. Jones 2001; Draine 2009) and the observed total dust masses, the required dust injection rate from stars can be an order of magnitude higher than observed (e.g. Matsuura et al. 2009; Gall et al. 2011; Dunne et al. 2011; Rowlands et al. 2012).”
• The SAGE-Spec Spitzer Legacy Program: The Life Cycle of Dust and Gas in the Large Magellanic Cloud (2010, methodology): “The colour classification scheme proposed by Matsuura et al. (2009) and Matsuura, Woods & Owen (2013) was used to identify masslosing AGB stars and RSGs and determine their mass-loss rates.”
• Dust formation in the oxygen-rich AGB star IK Tauri (2015, background): “Recent surveys with the Herschel space telescope of the Magellanic Clouds have questioned the primacy of AGBs as galactic dust providers at lower metallicity than that of the Milky Way (Matsuura et al. 2009; Boyer et al. 2012).”
• SURVEYING THE AGENTS OF GALAXY EVOLUTION IN THE TIDALLY STRIPPED, LOW METALLICITY SMALL MAGELLANIC CLOUD (SAGE-SMC). II. COOL EVOLVED STARS (2011, background): “The x-AGB stars (green), which tend to be carbon-rich (e.g., van Loon et al. 1997, 2006b, 2008b; Matsuura et al. 2009), often show absorption of HCN + C2H2 near 3 µm, causing very red [3.6]−[5.8], [3.6]−[8.0], and [3.6]− [24] colors (Matsuura et al. 2008).”
• THE DUST ATTENUATION LAW IN DISTANT GALAXIES: EVIDENCE FOR VARIATION WITH SPECTRAL TYPE (2013, background): “Consequently, the dust production and destruction cycle and the role of dust within the baryon cycle of galaxies are poorly understood (e.g., Draine 2009; Matsuura et al. 2009; Gall et al. 2011).”