Atmospheric dynamics of red supergiant stars and applications to Interferometry

Abstract

We have written a 3D radiative transfer code that computes emerging spectra and intensity maps. We derive from radiative hydrodynamic (RHD) simulations of RSG stars carried out with CO5BOLD (Freytag et al. 2002) observables expected for red supergiant stars (RSG) especially for interferometric observations, with emphasis on small scale structures. We show that the convection-related surface structures are detectable in the H band with today's interferometers and that the diameter measurement should not be too dependent on the adopted model. The simulations are a great improvement over parametric models for the interpretation of interferometric observations.