Molecular absorption in carbon stars detected by the ISO SWS

Abstract

We carried out the observations of bright optical carbon stars by the ISO SWS, and detected the absorption features of CO, CS, CH, SiS and HCN in N-type and SC-type stars. The CH fundamental bands in 3–4 μm in N-type stars are stronger than those in SC-type stars. On the other hand, the first overtone bands of SiS at 6.6 μm were detected in WZ Cas (SC-type), while none of them were detected in N-type stars. These results can be explained well by the lower C/O ratio in SC-type stars than in N-type stars. The absorption features of HCN ( ν 1, ν 2 + ν 3 and ν 1 − ν 2) are stronger in SC-type stars than in N-type stars. This fact can be explained by the cooler atmospheres of our sample of SC-type stars due to the lower C/O ratio as well as to the lower effective temperature, compared with our sample of N-type stars. The CS bands and the band heads of the CO fundamental bands are weaker in the observed spectra than in the ones predicted by our model atmospheres. This result cannot be explained by the present model atmosphere and one possible explanation is the contribution by the emission of CO and CS in the outer atmosphere.