Systematic trend of water vapour absorption in red giant atmospheres revealed by high resolution TEXES 12 mu m spectra

摘要

Context. The structures of the outer atmospheres of red giants are very complex. Recent interpretations of a range of different observations have led to contradictory views of these regions. It is clear, however, that classical model photospheres are inadequate to describe the nature of the outer atmospheres. The notion of large optically thick molecular spheres around the stars (MOLspheres) has been invoked in order to explain spectro-interferometric observations and low-and high-resolution spectra. On the other hand high-resolution spectra in the mid-IR do not easily fit into this picture because they rule out any large sphere of water vapour in LTE surrounding red giants.