Mass loss and yield uncertainty in low-mass asymptotic giant branch stars

Abstract

We investigate the uncertainty in surface abundances and yields of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. We apply three different mass loss laws to a 1.5 solar mass star of metallicity Z=0.008 at the beginning of the thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch (TP-AGB) phase. Efficient third dredge-up is found even at very low envelope mass, contrary to previous simulations with other evolution codes. We find that the yield of carbon is uncertain by about 15% and for most other light elements the yield is uncertain at the level of 20-80%. For iron group elements the uncertainty varies from around 30% for the more abundant species to over a factor of two for the less abundant radioactive species, like iron-60. The post-AGB surface abundances for this mass and metallicity are much more uncertain due to the dilution of dredged-up material in differing envelope masses in the later stages of the models. Our results are compared to known planetary nebula (PN) and post-AGB abundances. We find that the models are mostly consistent with observations but we are unable to reproduce observations of some of the isotopes.