Paper detail

Winds from Luminous Late-Type Stars: II. Broadband Frequency Distribution of Alfvén Waves

We present the numerical simulations of winds from evolved giant stars using a fully non-linear, time dependent 2.5-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) code. This study extends our previous fully non-linear MHD wind simulations to include a broadband frequency spectrum of Alfvén waves that drive winds from red giant stars. We calculated four Alfvén wind models that cover the whole range of Alfvén wave frequency spectrum to characterize the role of freely propagated and reflected Alfvén waves in the gravitationally stratified atmosphere of a late-type giant star. Our simulations demonstrate that, unlike linear Alfvén wave-driven wind models, a stellar wind model based on plasma acceleration due to broadband non-linear Alfvén waves, can consistently reproduce the wide range of observed radial velocity profiles of the winds, their terminal velocities and the observed mass loss rates. Comparison of the calculated mass loss rates with the empirically determined mass loss rate for alpha Tau suggests an anisotropic and time-dependent nature of stellar winds from evolved giants.