The temperature of the circumstellar envelope of Alpha Orionis

The processes that heat and cool the circumstellar envelope of Alpha Ori are analyzed and the temperature calculated as a function of distance from the star. Cooling by fine structure lines is included for the first time in a general way in the theory of the thermal balance of a circumstellar envelope. Adiabatic cooling, dust-drag heating, and various line coolants contribute in the outer envelope, whereas the fine structure lines of O I and Si II and adiabatic cooling are dominant in the inner envelope. The rotational levels of CO cool the gas only at very small and at very large distances; elsewhere they provide a small amount of heating. The temperature declines very rapidly at first and then varies roughly as r exp -1/2 in the outer envelope. At very large distances, the temperature distribution flattens out due to photoelectron heating and reaches a minimum of about 4 K at about 250 arcsec.