EP Aquarii: a new picture of the circumstellar envelope

Abstract: New analyses of earlier ALMA observations of oxygen-rich AGB star EP Aquarii are presented, which contribute major progress to our understanding of the morpho-kinematics of the circumstellar envelope (CSE). The birth of the equatorial density enhancement (EDE) is shown to occur very close to the star where evidence for rotation has been obtained. High Doppler velocity wings are seen to consist of two components, the front end of the global wind, reaching above $\pm$12 km s$^{-1}$, and an effective line broadening, confined within 200 mas from the centre of the star, reaching above $\pm$20 km s$^{-1}$ and interpreted as caused by the pattern of shock waves resulting from the interaction between stellar pulsation and convective cell granulation. Close to the star, episodic and lumpy mass ejections are observed, and their interaction with the gas of the nascent EDE, first rotating and later slowly expanding, is seen to play an important role in the development of the wind and the evolution of its radial velocity from 8-10 km s$^{-1}$ on the polar symmetry axis to $\sim$2 km s$^{-1}$ at the equator. It implies a very complex morpho-kinematics, which prevents making reliable interpretations with reasonable confidence. In particular, it sheds serious doubts on an earlier interpretation implying the presence of a white dwarf companion orbiting the star at an angular distance of $\sim$0.4 arcsec from its centre and currently west of it.