Distance estimate method for Asymptotic Giant Branch stars using Infrared Spectral Energy Distributions
The Astrophysical Journal(2024)
Abstract
We present a method to estimate distances to Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB)
stars in the Galaxy, using spectral energy distributions (SEDs) in the near-
and mid-infrared. By assuming that a given set of source properties (initial
mass, stellar temperature, composition, and evolutionary stage) will provide a
typical SED shape and brightness, sources are color-matched to a
distance-calibrated template and thereafter scaled to extract the distance. The
method is tested by comparing the distances obtained to those estimated from
Very Long Baseline Interferometry or Gaia parallax measurements, yielding a
strong correlation in both cases. Additional templates are formed by
constructing a source sample likely to be close to the Galactic center, and
thus with a common, typical distance for calibration of the templates. These
first results provide statistical distance estimates to a set of almost 15,000
Milky Way AGB stars belonging to the Bulge Asymmetries and Dynamical Evolution
(BAaDE) survey, with typical distance errors of ± 35
statistical distances a map of the intermediate-age population of stars traced
by AGBs is formed, and a clear bar structure can be discerned, consistent with
the previously reported inclination angle of 30^∘ to the GC-Sun direction
vector. These results motivate deeper studies of the AGB population to tease
out the intermediate-age stellar distribution throughout the Galaxy, as well as
determining statistical properties of the AGB population luminosity and
mass-loss rate distributions.
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Key words
Milky Way Galaxy,Asymptotic giant branch stars,Galactic center
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