LMC-SAGE AGB star candidates

We present empirical relations describing excess emission from evolved stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) using data from the Spitzer Space Telescope Surveying the Agents of a Galaxy's Evolution (SAGE) survey which includes the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0um and Multiband Imaging Photometer (MIPS) 24, 70, and 160um bands. We combine the SAGE data with the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS; J, H, and Ks) and the optical Magellanic Cloud Photometric Survey (MCPS; U, B, V, and I) point source catalogs in order to create complete spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star candidates in the LMC.

AGB star outflows are among the main producers of dust in a galaxy, and this mass loss results in an excess in the fluxes observed in the 8 and 24um bands. The aim of this work is to investigate the mass loss return by AGB stars to the interstellar medium of the LMC by studying the dependence of the infrared excess flux on the total luminosity.