Dust production from low- and intermediate-mass stars: new insights from post-AGB stars and PNe

Abstract Low- and intermediate-mass (LIM) stars play a pivotal role in the life cycle of their host environment. During the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) phase, they eject gas reprocessed by the internal nucleosynthesis and dust formed in their cool and dense circumstellar envelopes. The production of dust is strongly linked to the evolution of the central object during the AGB phase. Even after the AGB evolution, the effects of the stars’ previous evolutionary history, including nucleosynthesis, mass loss, and dust production processes, are still evident. Recently, we introduced a novel approach to address clues connected to the dust production and mass loss history of LIM stars looking at the post-AGB and planetary nebula (PN) evolutionary stage. By utilizing stellar evolution and dust formation models, we analyze the spectral energy distribution (SED) of sources currently undergoing various evolutionary phases, which are believed to have originated from progenitors with similar mass and chemical composition. Comparing the results from different stages along the AGB to PNe transition can provide valuable insights into the amount of dust and gas released during the very late AGB phases. While the post-AGB phase allows us to trace the history of dust production back to the AGB phase’s tip, investigating the PNe is crucial for reconstructing the mass-loss process that occurred after the last thermal pulse.