Bolometric luminosities and infrared properties of carbon stars in the Magellanic Clouds and the Galaxy
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Abstract
Infrared photometry of a selection of the Blanco et al. (1980) complete sample of C stars in the LMC and SMC, and of a sample of field C stars in the Galaxy, shows that the basic trends of the infrared colors and indices for C stars in the Galaxy and Magellanic clouds are similar but not identical. The photometry was used with the bolometric corrections of Frogel et al. (1980) to derive a bolometric luminosity function for the BMB sample, which was then compared with evolutionary calculations of double shell burning stars undergoing He shell flashes. It is found that: (1) the shape of the luminosity distribution in I or BMB is that of the bolometric luminosity function; (2) none of the available theoretical models can reproduce the SMC and LMC luminosity distribution for C stars, as M(bol) is predicted to be too bright; and (3) the observed luminosity function is approximately Gaussian, with a FWHM of about 0.8 mag in both the SMC and LMC.