Evolved stars in the Local Group galaxies - II. AGB, RSG stars and dust
  production in IC10
  We study the evolved stellar population of the Local Group galaxy IC10, with
the aim of characterizing the individual sources observed and to derive global
information on the galaxy, primarily the star formation history and the dust
production rate. To this aim, we use evolutionary sequences of low- and
intermediate-mass ($M < 8~M_{\odot}$) stars, evolved through the asymptotic
giant branch phase, with the inclusion of the description of dust formation. We
also use models of higher mass stars. From the analysis of the distribution of
stars in the observational planes obtained with IR bands, we find that the
reddening and distance of IC10 are $E(B-V)=1.85$ mag and $d=0.77$ Mpc,
respectively. The evolved stellar population is dominated by carbon stars, that
account for $40\%$ of the sources brighter than the tip of the red giant
branch. Most of these stars descend from $\sim 1.1-1.3~M_{\odot}$ progenitors,
formed during the major epoch of star formation, which occurred $\sim 2.5$ Gyr
ago. The presence of a significant number of bright stars indicates that IC10
has been site of significant star formation in recent epochs and currently
hosts a group of massive stars in the core helium-burning phase. Dust
production in this galaxy is largely dominated by carbon stars; the overall
dust production rate estimated is $7\times 10^{-6}~M_{\odot}$/yr.
