RATES OF ENERGY GAIN AND LOSS IN THE CIRCUMSTELLAR ENVELOPES OF BE STARS - THE POECKERT-MARLBOROUGH MODEL

We have determined the kinetic temperature of the electron gas as a fu nction of position in the circumstellar envelopes of early Be stars fo r the model developed by Poeckert & Marlborough. The rates of energy g ain and loss due to photoionization, radiative recombination, collisio nal transitions between bound levels, free-free emission, and free-fre e absorption were calculated at a set of grid points in a meridional p lane. If the temperature assumed is correct, the ratio of energy gain to energy loss should be exactly 1 at all points in the envelope. Our investigation demonstrates that the choice of a constant temperature o f 20,000 K was a reasonable first-order approximation. More importantl y, we have also determined the temperature that corresponds to equal r ates of energy gain and loss at each grid point throughout the envelop e. These temperatures represent a self-consistent solution of the equa tion of energy conservation.