Observations of MIRA stars with the IOTA/FLUOR interferometer and comparison with MIRA star models

We present K-band observations of five Mira stars with the IOTA interferometer. The interferograms were obtained with the FLUOR fiber optics beam combiner which provides high- accuracy visibility measurements in spite of time-variable atmospheric conditions. For the Mira stars X Oph, R Aql, RU Her, R Ser, and V CrB we derived the uniform-disk diameters 11.7 mas, 10.9 mas, 8.4 mas, 8.1 mas, and 7.9 mas (+/- 0.3 mas), respectively. Simultaneous photometric observations yielded the bolometric fluxes. The derived angular Rosseland radii and the bolometric fluxes allowed the determination of effective temperatures. For instance, the effective temperature of R Aql was determined to be 3072 K +/- 161 K. A Rosseland radius for R Aql of 250 R. +/- 63 R. was derived from the angular Rosseland radius of 5.5 mas +/- 0.2 mas and the HIPPARCOS parallax of 4.73 mas +/- 1.19 mas. The observations were compared with theoretical Mira star models (D/P model Rosseland radius equals 255 R.; measured R Aql Rosseland radius equals 250 R. +/- 63 R.).