Description
This paper presents results of JHKLM photometry data analysis of 249 southern 'IRAS-discovered' stars, which exhibit an emission feature at 11.3 microns in their low-resolution spectra (class 4n stars). The method of Epchtein et al. (1987A&AS...71...39E) is used to separate oxygen-rich and carbon-rich stars on the basis of their sole NIR and IRAS broad-band fluxes. It is shown that NIR data are necessary to calculate the total IR energy received from IRAS stars and such fundamental parameters as individual mass loss rates. An evolutionary model is developed to match the sequence of stars in color diagrams. It is suggested that the sequence of increasing optical depths might not be an evolutionary sequence, but would rather reflect the termination of a process in which the near-IR index increases very quickly at the beginning and is strongly dependent on the mass loss rate.
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