AAS 201st Meeting, January, 2003
Session 115. Cool Star Atmospheres and Envelopes
Poster, Thursday, January 9, 2003, 9:20am-4:00pm, Exhibit Hall AB

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[115.01] Model Atmospheres for Irradiated Red Giant Stars with Winds

J. P. Aufdenberg (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), T. S. Barman (Wichita State University)

We will present exploratory model atmosphere calculations applicable to symbiotic binary systems, where a hot white dwarf illuminates the extended atmosphere of a red giant. While sophisticated non-LTE photoionization models exist for these systems (e.g. Proga et al. 1998), detailed models for the ionized-to-neutral transition region in the red giant wind have lacked molecular line opacities. To make improvements in this area, we employ a new version of the PHOENIX stellar atmosphere and planetary radiative transfer code which combines the stellar wind module of Aufdenberg et al. (2002), now modified to treat the winds of cool stars, with the external illumination module of Barman, Hauschildt, & Allard (2001). Our present calculations include illuminated spherically symmetric models, with conditions similar to those found in EG And, that include non-LTE line blanketing, molecular opacity, and a realistic description of the incident white dwarf flux. Our goals include the prediction of changes in the red giant absorption-line spectrum with orbital phase, the prediction of emission-line strengths from the coolest, densest portions of the recombination region, and the detailing modeling of eclipse mapping observations. JPA is supported by a Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship. Some of the calculations for this work were computed on the IBM SP ``Blue Horizon'' of the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), with support from the National Science Foundation, and on the IBM SP of the NERSC with support from the DOE.


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The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: jaufdenberg@cfa.harvard.edu

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