Reduction of the maximum mass-loss rate of OH/IR stars due to unnoticed binary interaction

Understand

In 1981, the idea of a superwind that ends the life of cool giant stars was proposed.

• Extreme OH/IR-stars develop superwinds with the highest mass-loss rates known so far, up to a few 10^(-4) Msun/yr, informing our understanding of the maximum mass-loss rate achieved during the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) phase.
• A condundrum arises whereby the observationally determined duration of the superwind phase is too short for these stars to become white dwarfs.
• Here, we report on the detection of spiral structures around two cornerstone extreme OH/IR-stars, OH26.5+0.6 and OH30.1-0.7, identifying them as wide binary systems.