Colloq Abstract - Matthews
March 4, 2016
11am Mountain
Lynn Matthews
The Exploits of Aging Stars as Revealed by Radio Wavelength Observatories
Abstract
The atmospheres of giant and supergiant stars are highly dynamic places, subject to strong convection, large-amplitude pulsations, shocks, and in many cases, copious mass loss. This talk will focus on how observations at radio wavelengths provide unique insights into these processes and their impacts on the subsequent stellar evolution. I will begin by showcasing what cm-wave observations can teach us about the decades-old question of whether Cepheid variables are losing mass. This issue is of crucial importance for understanding the stars that serve as fundamental calibrators of the extragalactic distance scale. In the second portion of my talk, I will present new results on the atmospheric physics of long-period variable stars gleaned from resolved imaging of their radio photospheres at cm and mm wavelengths.
