| Issue |
A&A
Volume 375, Number 1, August III 2001
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | L9 - L13 | |
| Section | Letters | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20010903 | |
| Published online | 15 August 2001 | |
The Lithium Flash
Thermal instabilities generated by lithium burning in RGB stars
1
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Toulouse, CNRS UMR5572, OMP, 14 Av. E. Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France
2
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de l'Obs. de Grenoble, 414 rue de la Piscine, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France
Corresponding author: C. Charbonnel, corinne.charbonnel@obs-mip.fr
Received:
11
June
2001
Accepted:
23
June
2001
We present a scenario to explain the lithium-rich phase which occurs on the red giant branch at the so-called bump in the luminosity function. The high transport coefficients required to enhance the surface lithium abundance are obtained in the framework of rotation-induced mixing thanks to the impulse of the important nuclear energy released in a lithium burning shell. Under certain conditions a lithium flash is triggered off. The enhanced mass loss rate due to the temporary increase of the stellar luminosity naturally accounts for a dust shell formation.
Key words: stars: interiors / stars: rotation / stars: abundances
© ESO, 2001
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