The winds of Red Supergiant stars: A dusty journey from the stellar surface to the interstellar medium

Most massive stars end their lives in a core-collapse supernova during the red supergiant (RSG) phase of evolution. In this final phase of the star’s lives they drive powerful stellar winds, which strongly impact the supernova (progenitor) properties as well as the nature of the compact object that is left behind after the explosion. However, the mass-loss characteristics of RSGs are poorly constrained and little is known about the wind driving mechanism. Using an unprecedented data set of nearby RSG stars obtained through high spatial resolution VLT/VLTI and ALMA observations, I propose to obtain breakthrough insights regarding the physics, mass-loss rate and spatial morphology of RSG outflows. Specifically, I will investigate the mass loss from RSG stars in relation to their surface activity, which is dominated by the violent surfacing of giant convective cells and pulsations. The superb spatial resolution of our data allows to resolve the stellar surface as well as structures in the nearby surrounding dust, which is the only way to investigate a surface structure - wind morphology connection.

Trefwoorden:Red Supergiant stars, High angular resolution observing, Radiative Transfer, Stellar outflows, Stellar surfaces

Disciplines:Stellaire astrofysica, Infrarood- en optische astronomie, Radio- en sub-mm astronomie