Estimation of the mass loss, opening angle and mass of Be circumstellar disks from Br g continuum emission and interferometric measurements

Description

Using the SIMECA code developed by Stee & Araùjo (1994); Stee et al. (1995) for Be stars we obtain a correlation between the mass loss ratesṀ and the Brγ continuum luminosity as a function of the opening angle of the disk. We show that this correlation is similar to those obtained by Scuderi et al. (1998) for O-B supergiants. We found that the wind density at the base of the photosphere, from a sample of 8 Be stars, lies between 10 −13 and 10 −12 g cm −3. We also present a relationship between the mass of the circumstellar disk and the 2.16 µm flux. Finally we emphasize how interferometric measurements can help to estimate the wind density and we present a sample of 16 Be stars with predicted visibilities that can be observed with the VLTI.

Abstract

Astronomy and Astrophysics, v. 403, p. 1023-1029, 2003. http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20030498

Abstract

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