Circumstellar Carbon Chemistry Beyond IRC+10216 - An ALMA View of Carbon-rich AGB Circumstellar Envelopes

Watch a scientific lecture exploring the chemical composition and structure of carbon-rich AGB star outflows using ALMA observations. Delve into groundbreaking research that expands beyond the traditional IRC+10216 reference star to examine three additional carbon-rich AGB stars with varying mass-loss rates and carbon isotope ratios. Learn about the detection of over 200 emission lines per source, revealing complex molecular envelopes, density-enhanced shells, and potential companion objects. Understand how non-LTE radiative transfer modeling using data from ALMA, APEX, and Herschel/HIFI telescopes helps determine molecular abundances and compare chemical characteristics between different stars. Discover future research directions, including studies of lower density circumstellar environments and improvements to chemical modeling of these stellar atmospheres.