Three-component modeling of C-rich AGB star winds III. Micro-physics of drift-dependent dust formation

Abstract

A proper treatment of the non-equilibrium dust formation process is crucial in models of AGB star winds. In this paper the micro-physics of this process is treated in detail, with an emphasis on the effects of drift (drift models). We summarize the description of the dust formation process and make a few additions to previous work. A detailed study shows that different growth species dominate the grain growth rates at different drift velocities. The new models show that the net effect of drift is to significantly increase the amounts of dust, seemingly without affecting the mean wind properties, such as e.g., the mass loss rate. In some cases there is several times more dust in drift models, compared to the values in the corresponding non-drift models. We study the formation of a dust shell in the inner parts of the wind and find that drift plays an active role in accumulating dust to certain narrow regions. In view of the results presented here it is questionable if drift -- under the current assumptions -- can be ignored in the grain growth rates.