Whether the descendant of low and intermediate mass stars - Asymptotic Giant Branch stars - or massive stars - Red Supergiant stars - , cool evolved stars experience a strong mass loss that is one of the main contributor to the chemical evolution of the Universe. The mass loss rate is also directly responsible for the final mass, hence type, of the stellar remnant, as well as the formation of extended nebulae around them. Several processes driving these outflows are still poorly characterized, these include (but do not limit to) the effect of binarity and the presence of massive exoplanets, the effect of magnetic fields, the chemical network leading to the condensation of the various dust species, and the driving processes themselves in the case of red supergiant stars.

Recently, several crucial breakthrough have been achieved using multi-techniques/multi-scales/multi-wavelengths observations, in conjunction with powerful numerical modeling. The focus of this special session will be the discussion of these results, possible strategies involving the collaboration of the different teams and specialties of our community, and the preparation for the arrival of new facilities such as the JWST, CFHT/SPIROU, the recent/new ESO instrumentation, the CHARA upgrade, the ALMA polarimetric facility, and the full NOEMA upgrade of the Plateau de Bure interferometer.

Programme

• Red supergiant (RSG) and Asymptotic GIant Branch (AGB) stars
• Mass loss
• Photospheric features
• Stellar winds

Invited speakers

• Pierre Kervella (LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, France)
• Sara Bladh (Uppsala University, Sweden)
• Arturo López-Ariste (IRAP, France)
• Claudia Paladini (ESO, Chile)
• Sylvia Ekström (Geneva Observatory, Switzerland)

Scientific organisers

• Miguel Montargès (chair, KU Leuven, Belgium)
• Agnès Lèbre (co-chair, LUPM, France)
• Ben Davies (Liverpool John Moores University, United Kingdom)
• Elizabeth Humphreys (ESO, Germany)
• Valentin Bujarrabal (OAN-IGN, Spain)
• Georges Meynet (Geneva Observatory, Switzerland)
• Elvire De Beck (Chalmers, Sweden)
• Andrea Miglio (University of Birmingham, UK)
• Leen Decin (KU Leuven, Belgium)

Contact

miguel.montarges @ kuleuven.be