Galactic distributions of carbon-and oxygen-rich AGB stars revealed by the AKARI mid-infrared all-sky survey

Abstract

Context. The environmental conditions for asympotic giant branch (AGB) stars to reach the carbon-rich (C-rich) phase are important to understand the evolutionary process of AGB stars. The difference between the spatial distributions of C-rich and oxygen-rich (O-rich) AGB stars is essential for the study of the Galactic structure and the chemical evolution of the interstellar medium. Aims. We quantitatively investigate the spatial distributions of C-rich and O-rich AGB stars in our Galaxy. We discuss the difference between them and its origin. Methods. We classify a large number of AGB stars newly detected by the AKARI mid-infrared all-sky survey. In the color-color diagrams, we define their occupation zones based on the locations of known objects. We then obtain the spatial distributions of C-rich and O-rich AGB stars, assuming that they have the same luminosity for a given mass-loss rate. Results. We find that O-rich AGB stars are concentrated toward the Galactic center and that the density decreases with Galactocentric distance, whereas C-rich AGB stars show a relatively uniform distribution within about 8 kpc of Sun. Conclusions. Our result confirms the trends reported in previous studies and extends them to a Galactic scale. We discuss the relations between our result, the Galactic metallicity gradient, and the chemical evolution of the ISM in our Galaxy. © 2011 ESO.