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| Paper: |
Discussion Session: How Can We Determine the Evolutionary Phase of the Unclassified B[e] Stars? |
| Volume: |
355, Stars With the B[e] Phenomenon |
| Page: |
365 |
| Authors: |
Miroshnichenko, A.S. |
| Abstract: |
Unclassified B[e] (unclB[e]) stars comprise nearly half of the originally selected group of 65 galactic B[e] objects. They are called unclassified because of their unknown or controversial nature and/or evolutionary state. Many of them have been studied sparsely. However, even the brightest ones with large observational data sets have not been completely understood (e.g., HD45677 and HD50138). Recent findings by Miroshnichenko et al. (2006) show that nearly 60 galactic objects can be considered unclB[e] stars. A large fraction of them seems to be intermediate- and low-luminosity objects (L/LSolar ≤ 105). They usually exhibit strong emission-line spectra, which are easier to explain in high-luminosity stars. There is a noticeable (~30%) population of binaries among unclB[e] stars.
At this conference, the emphasis was put on B[e] supergiants, whose properties we seem to know better due to known luminosities. They are thought to be massive post-main-sequence stars with strong radiatively-driven winds that currently produce dust. A few theoretical studies have already explored the dust formation mechanisms in luminous B[e] stars (Bjorkman 1998; Kraus & Lamers 2003). This discussion is devoted to lower luminosity unclB[e] stars, which also seem to produce dust in their circumstellar envelopes. |
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