Long Term Evolution of Surface Features on the Red Supergiant AZ Cyg

Abstract

We present H -band interferometric observations of the red supergiant (RSG) AZ Cyg that were made with the Michigan Infra-Red Combiner (MIRC) at the six-telescope Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) Array. The observations span 5 yr (2011–2016), which offers insight into the short and long-term evolution of surface features on RSGs. Using a spectrum of AZ Cyg obtained with SpeX on the NASA InfraRed Telescope Facility (IRTF) and synthetic spectra calculated from spherical MARCS, spherical PHOENIX, and SAtlas model atmospheres, we derive T eff is between 3972 K and 4000 K and log g between −0.50 and 0.00, depending on the stellar model used. Using fits to the squared visibility and GAIA parallaxes, we measure its average radius R = 911 − 50 + 57 R ⊙ . Reconstructions of the stellar surface using our model-independent imaging codes SQUEEZE and OITOOLS.jl show a complex surface with small bright features that appear to vary on a timescale of less than one year and larger features that persist for more than one year. The 1D power spectra of these images suggest a characteristic size of 0.52–0.69 R ⋆ for the larger, long lived features. This is close to the values of 0.51–0.53 R ⋆ that are derived from 3D RHD models of stellar surfaces. We conclude that interferometric imaging of this star is in line with predictions of 3D RHD models but that short-term imaging is needed to more stringently test predictions of convection in RSGs.