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MINI REVIEW article
Front. Astron. Space Sci.
Sec. Stellar and Solar Physics
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspas.2025.1581269
This article is part of the Research Topic Chemical Diversity of Circumstellar Envelopes Around Evolved Stars View all 5 articles
Mass-Loss and Silicate Production in Oxygen-Rich AGB Stars: Current Understanding and Open Questions
Provisionally accepted
Ester Marini 1*
Silvia Tosi 1,2,3- 1 Astronomical Observatory of Rome (INAF), Rome, Italy
- 2 Roma Tre University, Rome, Lazio, Italy
- 3 National Laboratory of Frascati (INFN), Frascati, Italy
AGB stars play a crucial role in the chemical enrichment of the Universe, polluting their host galaxies with gas and dust that reflect the nucleosynthesis processes active during their evolution.Among the dust species formed in the AGB phase, oxygen-rich dust is produced in significant quantities in sources with masses above 4 solar masses, influencing wind dynamics and, consequently, the total dust budget of such stars. In this regard, this manuscript aims to update the reader on some key open questions that still limit the estimation of the role of oxygen-rich AGB stars in the silicate budget of the interstellar medium in galaxies. This is achieved by reviewing previous studies and focusing on the limitations in the description of mass-loss rates and dust yields.
Keywords: AGB -stars, Silicates, Mass-loss -stars, Dust production, stellar evolution, IR observations
Received: 21 Feb 2025; Accepted: 17 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Marini and Tosi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Ester Marini, Astronomical Observatory of Rome (INAF), Rome, Italy
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