Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Excess Mid-Infrared Flux: An Indicator Of Mass Loss In Cepheids?, Edward G. Schmidt

Edward Schmidt Publications

Spectral energy distributions for 132 classical and type II Cepheids were searched for evidence of excess flux above the photospheric level in the mid-infrared. Eight of them were found to have unambiguously strong excess emission while a further 13 showed evidence of weak emission. The presence of emission appears to be unrelated to either the pulsational amplitude or the effective temperature while strong emission is limited to stars with periods longer than 11 days, with a single exception. For the stars with strong emission we attempted to fit the energy distribution with a stellar wind model. No acceptable fit could …