Paper detail

The detection of heavy metals in the circumstellar envelopes of post-AGB stars

A new type of peculiarity -- a splitting or asymmetry of strong absorption lines, is found in the optical spectra of selected post-AGB stars with C-rich circumstellar envelopes. The effect is maximal in BaII lines whose profile is split into two-three components. The particular components of the split absorption lines are shown to be formed in a structured circumstellar envelope, suggesting an efficient dredge-up of the heavy metals produced during the preceding evolution of this star into the envelope. We suspect that the splitting (or asymmetry) of the profiles of strongest absorptions with low excitation potential of the low level can be associated with the kinematic and chemical properties of the circumstellar environment and with type of its morphology.