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A study on the nature of the peculiar supergiant HD101584

We present a study of low- and high-resolution ultraviolet, high-resolution optical CAT/CES spectra and ultraviolet, optical and infrared photometry of the peculiar supergiant HD101584. From the photometry we learn that the ultraviolet and optical energy distribution cannot be fitted in a consistent way and we need a model in which the UV and optical energy distribution are formed by different gas. The Geneva photometry is best fitted to a B9II Kurucz model, Teff=12000+-1000K and log g=3.0 +-1.0, with an extinction of E(B-V)=0.49+-0.05. The observed spectral features in the spectrum of HD101584 are classified in eight different categories based on the velocity, shape of profile and the identification. The high-excitation HeI(chi=20.87eV), NII(chi=18.40eV), CII (chi=14.39eV) and NI (chi=10.29eV) optical absorption lines are formed in the photosphere of a late B-star (e.g. B8-9I-II). These absorption lines show radial velocity variations which are attributed to binary motion, with the secondary being a white dwarf or a low-mass main sequence object. The low-excitation P-Cygni lines in the optical and UV are formed in the wind. The number density of absorption lines in the UV is so large that the wind spectrum acts as an iron curtain in front of the B-star. The terminal velocity of the wind of $v_{\infty}=100\pm30$ km~s$^{-1}~$ is consistent with the star being a low-mass post-AGB star and the low effective gravity is attributed to the presence of a nearby, unseen, secondary. We estimate a mass-loss rate of M$\approx 10^{-8}$~M$_{\odot}$~yr$^{-1}$. Narrow absorption and emission lines are observed which are formed in a circumsystem disk with a typical radius of $10^{2} R_{\ast}$.