Search

We surveyed a sample of compact Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe) with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST/STIS) to determine their gas-phase carbon abundances. Carbon abundances in PNe constrain the nature of their asymptotic giant branch (AGB) progenitors, as well as cosmic recycling. We measured carbon abundances, or limits thereof, of 11 compact Galactic PNe, notably increasing the sample of Galactic PNe whose carbon abundance based on HST ultraviolet spectra is available. Dust content of most targets has been studied elsewhere from Spitzer spectroscopy; given the compact nature of the nebulae, both UV and IR spectra can be directly compared to study gas- and dust-phase carbon. We found that carbon-poor (C/O1) have carbon-rich dust (CRD), confirming the correlation between gas- and dust-phase carbon content which was known for Magellanic Cloud PNe. Based on models of expected final yields from AGB evolution we interpret the majority of the carbon-poor PNe in this study as the progeny of ~1.1-1.2 M$_{\odot}$ stars that experienced some extra-mixing on the red giant branch (RGB), they went through the AGB but did not go through the carbon star phase. Most PNe in this group have bipolar morphology, possibly due to the presence of a sub-solar companion. Carbon-enhanced PNe in our sample could be the progeny of stars in the ~1.5-2.5 M$_{\odot}$ range, depending on their original metallicity., The Astrophysical Journal, in press

The populations of planetary nebulae (PNe) probe metallicity and chemical content (and its evolution) of the parent galaxy, giving clues to galaxy formation and evolution. This sub-field of extra-galactic PN research has been particularly active in the recent years. Comparison of data and models yielded estimates of global cosmic enrichment and provided constraints to galaxy formation history. In external spiral galaxies, the chemical contents of PNe and H II regions can be compared to disclose possible evolution of the radial metallicity gradient, which is, in turn, a powerful constraint to galactic chemical evolutionary models. In the Milky Way, recent PN progenitor dating and new chemical abundances offer an updated look into our own Galaxy. Collectively, Galactic and extra-galactic radial metallicity gradients from emission-line probes (PNe and H II regions) can be compared to have a cosmological outlook on galactic evolution.

In this paper we gauge the potentiality of Gaia in the distance scale calibration of planetary nebulae (PNe) by assessing the impact of DR1 parallaxes of central stars of Galactic PNe (CSPNe) against known physical relations. For selected PNe targets with state-of-the-art data on angular sizes and fluxes, we derive the distance-dependent parameters of the classical distance scales, i.e., physical radii and ionized masses, from DR1 parallaxes; we propagate the uncertainties in the estimated quantities and evaluate their statistical properties in the presence of large relative parallax errors; we populate the statistical distance scale diagrams with this sample and discuss its significance in light of existing data and current calibrations. We glean from DR1 parallaxes 8 CSPNe with S/N$>$1. We show that this set of potential calibrators doubles the number of extant trigonometric parallaxes (from HST and ground-based), and increases by two orders of magnitude the domain of physical parameters probed previously. We then use the combined sample of suitable trigonometric parallaxes to fit the physical-radius-to-surface-brightness relation. This distance scale calibration, although preliminary, appears solid on statistical grounds, and suggestive of new PNe physics. With the tenfold improvement in PNe number statistics and astrometric accuracy expected from future Gaia releases the new distance scale, already very intriguing, will be definitively constrained., New Astronomy, in press

We study the spatially resolved excitation properties of the ionised gas in a sample of 646 galaxies using integral field spectroscopy data from SDSS-IV MaNGA. Making use of Baldwin-Philips-Terlevich diagnostic diagrams we demonstrate the ubiquitous presence of extended (kpc scale) low ionisation emission-line regions (LIERs) in both star forming and quiescent galaxies. In star forming galaxies LIER emission can be associated with diffuse ionised gas, most evident as extra-planar emission in edge-on systems. In addition, we identify two main classes of galaxies displaying LIER emission: `central LIER' (cLIER) galaxies, where central LIER emission is spatially extended, but accompanied by star formation at larger galactocentric distances, and `extended LIER' (eLIER) galaxies, where LIER emission is extended throughout the whole galaxy. In eLIER and cLIER galaxies, LIER emission is associated with radially flat, low H$\alpha$ equivalent width of line emission ($, Comment: accepted for publication in MNRAS, 26 pages, 17 figures

We use planetary nebulae (PNe) as probes to determine the Galactic radial oxygen gradients, and other abundance patterns. We select data homogeneously from recent data sets, including PNe at large Galactocentric distances. The radial oxygen gradient calculated for the general PN population, which probes the region between the Galactic center and out to $\sim$28 kpc, is shallow, with slope $\sim$-0.02 dex kpc$^{-1}$, in agreement with previous findings. We looked for time evolution of the metallicity gradient using PNe with different age progenitors as metallicity probes. We identify PNe whose progenitor stars are younger than 1 Gyr (YPPNe), and those whose progenitor stars are older than 7.5 Gyr (OPPNe), based on the comparison between evolutionary yields and elemental abundances of the PNe. By studying OPPNe and YPPNe separately we found that: (i) The OPPNe oxygen gradient is shallower ($\sim-0.015$ dex kpc$^{-1}$) than that derived from YPPNe ($\sim-0.027$ dex kpc$^{-1}$); (ii) the OPPNe inner radial distribution of oxygen is compatible with no gradient to the radial extent of the thick disk population ($\sim$10 kpc), similarly to what has been observed in thick disk stars; (iii) planetary nebulae (especially OPPNe) indicate that significant gradient slope is limited to Galactocentric distances between $\sim$10 to $\sim$13.5 kpc, as observed for open clusters and field stars. Outside this range, the distribution is almost flat. We found that the radial oxygen gradient is steeper for a PN population closer to the Galactic disk, similarly to what is observed in the general stellar population by the SEGUE survey. We use our novel population dating to compare our results with current chemical evolutionary models, and with gradients from other Galactic populations, for insight on galaxy chemical evolution., The Astrophysical Journal, in press

Planetary Nebulae (PNe), the relics of the envelope ejected by low and intermediate-mass stars at the end of their evolution, carry a lot of information of the life of their progenitors and the environment where they originated. The field of PN and its population is more active than even, especially given the new generation of space- and ground-based datasets that have became available in the last few decades. In this paper we review a selection of topics centered in the importance of PNe as probes of galaxy evolution and populations.

Our knowledge of the shape of radial metallicity gradients in disc galaxies has recently improved. Conversely, the understanding of their time evolution is more complex, since it requires analysis of stellar populations with different ages, or systematic studies of galaxies at different redshifts. In the Local Universe, Hii regions and planetary nebulae (PNe) are important tools to investigate it. We present an in-depth study of all nearby spiral galaxies (M33, M31, NGC300, and M81) with direct-method nebular abundances of both populations. For the first time, we also evaluate the radial migration of PN populations. We analyse Hii region and PN properties to: determine whether oxygen in PNe is a reliable tracer for past interstellar medium (ISM) composition; homogenise the published datasets; estimate the migration of the oldest stellar populations; determine the overall chemical enrichment and slope evolution. We confirm that oxygen in PNe is a reliable tracer for the past ISM metallicity. We find that PN gradients are flatter than or equal to those of Hii regions. When radial motions are negligible, this result provides a direct measurement of the time evolution of the gradient. For galaxies with dominant radial motions, we provide upper limits on the gradient evolution. Finally, the total metal content increases with time in all target galaxies, with early morphological type having a larger increment Delta(O/H) than late-type galaxies. Our findings provide important constraints to discriminate among different galactic evolutionary scenarios, favouring cosmological models with enhanced feedback from supernovae. The advent of extremely large telescopes will allow us to include galaxies in a wider range of morphologies and environments, thus putting firmer constraints to galaxy formation and evolution scenarios., Comment: A&A accepted, 17 pages, 12 figures

We present N-body simulations of elliptical galaxy encounters into dry mergers to study the resulting unbound intergalactic stellar population, in particular that of the post-Main Sequence stars. The systems studied are pairs of spherical galaxies without dark halos. The stellar content of the model galaxies is distributed into mass-bins representing low- and intermediate-mass stars (0.85 -- 8 solar masses) according to Salpeter's initial mass function. Our models follow the dynamical evolution of galaxy encounters colliding head-on from initial low-energy parabolic or high-energy mildly-hyperbolic orbits, and for a choice of initial-mass ratios. The merging models with initial parabolic orbits have M2/M1 =1 and 10, and they leave behind respectively 5.5 % and 10 % of the total initial mass as unbound stellar mass. The merging model with initial hyperbolic orbit has M2/M1 =1, and leaves behind 21 % of its initial stellar mass as unbound mass, showing that the efficiency in producing intergalactic stars through a high-energy hyperbolic encounter is about four times than through a parabolic encounter of the same initial mass ratio. By assuming that all progenitor galaxies as well as the merger remnants are homologous systems we obtained that the intergalactic starlight is 17 % and 28 % of the total starlight respectively for the parabolic and hyperbolic encounters with M2/M1 =1. In all models, different mass stars have the same probability of becoming unbound and feeding the intergalactic stellar population., The Astrophysical Journal, in press

We present Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) broad band imagery and optical slitless spectroscopy of three young star clusters in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). MA 1796 and MG 2 were previously known as Planetary Nebulae, and observed as such within our Hubble Space Telescope (HST) survey. With the HST spatial resolution, we show that they are instead H II regions, surrounding very young star clusters. A third compact H II region, MA 1797, was serendipitously observed by us as it falls in the same frame of MA 1796. Limited nebular analysis is presented as derived from the slitless spectra. We find that MA 1796 and MG 2 are very heavily extincted, with c>1.4, defining them as the most extincted optically-discovered star forming regions in the SMC. MA 1796 and MG 2 are extremely compact (less than 1 pc across), while MA 1797, with diameter of about 3 pc, is similar to the ultra compact H II regions already known in the SMC. Stellar analysis is presented, and approximate reddening correction for the stars is derived from the Balmer decrement. Limited analysis of their stellar content and their ionized radiation shows that these compact H II regions are ionized by small stellar clusters whose hottest stars are at most of the B0 class. These very compact, extremely reddened, and probably very dense H II regions in the SMC offer insight in the most recent star formation episodes in a very low metallicity galaxy., The Astrophysical Journal, Part 1, in press 17 pages, and 3 figures

We present medium- and broadband Hubble Space Telescope (HST) photometry of a sample of 35 central stars (CSs) of planetary nebulae (PNs) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The observations were made with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph instruments on board the HST. By observing LMC objects, our sample is free of the distance uncertainty that is the dominant source of error in the determination of CS luminosities in Galactic PNs. By observing with the HST we resolve the nebula, and therefore we often detect the CSs unambiguously. We obtain core masses of 16 of the objects by comparing their positions on the H-R diagram with theoretical evolutionary tracks, once we determine the stellar effective temperature through Zanstra analysis. This sample of CS masses is the largest and most reliable set obtained in an extragalactic environment. We find an average mass of 0.65 M?, although a few of the objects have very high mass. This average value is consistent with the average mass of the white dwarf population in the Galaxy. As the immediate precursors of white dwarfs, the study of the mass distribution of PN CSs should help to constrain the initial-to-final mass relation within environments of differing metallicity. Finally, by exploring the physical connections between the star and the nebula, we establish the importance of the study of PNs in the LMC to constrain the energy input from the wind during the post-asymptotic giant branch phase.

This review contains: (1) the scientific motivations for studying Planetary Nebulae in the Magellanic Clouds; (2) a review of this field of study, from the origins to the most recent results, focusing on the papers that have been published since the last IAU Symposium on Planetary Nebulae; (3) a review of the Hubble contribution to the field, from the early results to our own Magellanic Cloud Planetary Nebula program., invited review, IAU Symposium No. 209, Planetary Nebulae: Their Evolution and Role in the Universe (Canberra, Australia November 19 - 23 2001), in press

The Astrophysical Journal 808.2 (2015): 115 reproduced by permission of the AAS, We present high spatial resolution (≈60-90 mas) images of the molecular hydrogen emission in the planetary nebula (PN) NGC 2346. The data were acquired during the system verification of the Gemini Multi-conjugate Adaptive Optics System + Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager. At the distance of NGC 2346, 700 pc, the physical resolution corresponds to ≈56 AU, which is slightly higher than an [N II] image of NGC 2346 that was obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope/WFPC2. With this unprecedented resolution, for the first time we were able to study the structure of the H2 gas within the nebula in detail. We found it to be composed of knots and filaments, which at a lower resolution had appeared to be a uniform torus of material. We explain how the formation of the clumps and filaments in this PN are consistent with a mechanism in which a central hot bubble of nebular gas surrounding the central star has been depressurized, and the thermal pressure of the photoionized region drives the fragmentation of the swept-up shell, We are grateful to R. Carrasco for the data reduction of the GSAOI images. We thank Wolfgang Steffen and Dolores Bello for fruitful discussion. A.M. and D.A.G.H. acknowledge support for this work provided by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under grant AYA-2011-27754. L.S. and R.A.S. acknowledge support for this project from NOAO. E.V. acknowledges support from grant AYA 2013-45347P. G.G.-S. is partially supported by CONACyT grant 178253 and DGAPA grant IN100410. G.G.-S. thanks Michael L. Norman and the Laboratory for Computational Astrophysics for the use of ZEUS-3D. Some of the data presented in this paper were obtained from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST). STScI is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. Support for MAST for non-HST data is provided by the NASA Office of Space Science via grant NNX09AF08G and by other grants and contracts

HST STIS slitless spectroscopy of LMC PNs is the ideal tool to study their morphology and their ionization structures at once. We present the results from a group of 29 PNs that have been spatially resolved, for the first time, in all the major optical lines. Images in the light of \ha, \nii, and \oiii are presented, together with line intensities, measured from the extracted 1D and 2D spectra. A study on the surface brightness in the different optical lines, the electron densities, the ionized masses, the excitation classes, and the extinction follows, illustrating an ideal consistence with the previous results found by us on LMC PNs. In particular, we find the surface brightness decline with the photometric radius to be the same in most emission lines. We find that asymmetric PNs form a well defined cooling sequence in the excitation -- surface brightness plane, confirming their different origin, and larger progenitor mass.

The LMC is ideal for studying the coevolution of planetary nebulae (PNs) and their central stars in that the debilitating uncertainties of the Galactic PN distance scale and selection biases from attenuation by interstellar dust do not apply. We present images and analyze slitless spectra that were obtained in a survey of Large Magellanic Cloud PNs. These data on 29 targets were obtained with the Hubble Space T elescope (HST ) using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. The data permit us to determine the nebular dimensions and morphology in the monochromatic light of several emission lines, including those that have traditionally been used for morphological studies in the Galaxy : Ha ,[ NII] j6583, and [O III] j5007, plus others of varying ionization including [O I], He I, and [S II]. Together with the 31 resolved LMC PNs for which monochromatic images exist in the HST archive, these data show that the incidence of nonsymmetric nebulae, including bipolar nebulae (which is an indicator of Population I ancestry in the Galaxy), is signiÐcantly higher than that reported for the Galaxy. The onset of asymmetric features appears even in very young nebulae (with dynamical ages of D1400 yr), suggesting that at least the gross features of the nebular morphology may be more closely tied to PN formation and that subsequent shaping of the expanding envelope by the radiation Ðeld and wind from the central star may play the lesser role of amplifying these gross features. There is some evidence of evolution between two morphological types in the sense that bipolar core nebulae may evolve to pure bipolars late in the PN lifetime. Subject headings : Magellanic Clouds E planetary nebulae : general E stars : evolution

Planetary nebulae (PNe) exist in a range of different morphologies, from very simple and symmetric round shells, to elliptical, bipolar, and even quadrupolar shapes. They present extremely complex ensembles of filaments, knots, ansae, and shell multiplicity. It is then overwhelmingly complicated to derive reasonable evolutionary paths to justify the observed shapes of PNe. The confrontation between the evolution of the shells and that of the central stars is needed to understand the origin of the morphological variety. We present some background and recent results on the correlations between PN morphology and PN nuclei (PNNi) evolution, including a study on the Magellanic Cloud PNe.

We present a new set of weak-line abundances of HII regions in M81, based on Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) observations. The aim is to derive plasma and abundance analysis for a sizable set of emission-line targets to study the galactic chemical contents in the framework of galactic metallicity gradients. We used the weak-line abundance approach by deriving electron density and temperatures for several HII regions in M81. Gradient analysis is based on oxygen abundances.Together with a set of HII region abundances determined similarly by us with Multi-Mirror Telescope (MMT) spectra, the new data yield to a radial oxygen gradient of -0.088$\pm$0.013 dex kpc$^{-1}$, which is steeper than the metallicity gradient obtained for planetary nebulae (-0.044$\pm$0.007 dex kpc$^{-1}$). This result could be interpreted as gradient evolution with time: Models of galactic evolution with inside-out disk formation associated to pre-enriched gas infall would produce such difference of gradients, although stellar migration effects would also induce a difference in the metallicity gradients between the old and young populations. By comparing the M81 metallicity gradients with those of other spiral galaxies, all consistently derived from weak-line analysis, we can infer that similar gradient difference is common among spirals. The metallicity gradient slopes for HII regions and PNe seem to be steeper in M81 than in other galactic disks, which is likely due to the fact that M81 belongs to a galaxy group. We also found that M81 has experienced an average oxygen enrichment of 0.14$\pm$0.08 dex in the spatial domain defined by the observations. Our data are compatible with a break in the radial oxygen gradient slope around R$_{25}$ as inferred by other authors both in M81 and in other galaxies., Comment: Astronomy and Astrophysics, in press

Recent observations of multiple shell planetary nebulae confirm the existing subdivision into two morphological types: attached halo and detached halo. The multiple shell phenomenon appears in about twenty-five percent of round and elliptical planetary nebulae of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias morphological survey. The analysis of these nebulae together with that of their central stars lead to the interpretation that detached halo nebulae are formed through discontinuous mass loss at the Asymptotic Giant Branch tip. The attached halo nebulae, instead, are probably produced via dynamical nebular shaping.

In this paper we review the evolutionary paths that lead to the different types of planetary nebulae nuclei, including hydrogen and helium-burning central stars. Starting from the empirical definition of WR central stars, based on stellar spectra, we examine the theoretical work produced to account for the observed configurations. Then we discuss the constraints provided by recent galactic and extragalactic observations, and finally state the possible developments in this field to achieve a better understanding of the subject.

We present the images of a \textit{Hubble Space Telescope} (\textit{HST}/WFC3) snapshot program of angularly compact Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe), acquired with the aim of studying their size, evolutionary status, and morphology. PNe that are smaller than $\sim4\arcsec$ are underrepresented in most morphological studies, and today they are less well studied than their immediate evolutionary predecessors, the pre-planetary nebulae. The images have been acquired in the light of [\ion{O}{3}]$\lambda5007$, which is commonly used to classify the PN morphology, in the UV continuum with the aim of detecting the central star unambiguously, and in the $I-$band to detect a cool stellar companion, if present. The sample of 51 confirmed PNe exhibits nearly the full range of primary morphological classes, with the distribution more heavily weighted toward bipolar PNe, but with total of aspherical PNe almost identical to that of the general Galactic sample. A large range of microstructures is evident in our sample as well, with many nebulae displaying attached shells, halos, ansae, and internal structure in the form of arcs, rings, and spirals. Various aspherical structures in a few PNe, including detached arcs, suggest an interaction with the ISM. We studied the observed sample of compact Galactic PNe in the context of the general Galactic PN population, and explore whether their physical size, spatial distribution, reddening, radial metallicity gradient, and possible progenitors, are peculiar within the population of Galactic PNe. We found that these compact Galactic PNe, which have been selected based on apparent dimensions, constitute a diverse Galactic PN population that is relatively uniformly distributed across the Galactic disk, including the outskirts of our Galaxy. This unique sample will be used in the future to probe the old Galactic disk population., Comment: ApJ, in press

We have obtained multi-wavelength observations of compact Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe) to probe post-Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) evolution from the onset of nebular ejection. We analyze new observations from HST to derive the masses and evolutionary status of their central stars (CSs) in order to better understand the relationship between the CS properties and those of the surrounding nebulae. We also compare this sample with others we obtained using the same technique in different metallicity environments: the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. We work with HST/WFC3 images of 51 targets obtained in a snapshot survey (GO-11657). The high spatial resolution of HST allows us to resolve these compact PNe and distinguish the CS emission from that of their surrounding PNe. The targets were imaged through the filters F200LP, F350LP, and F814W from which we derive Johnson V and I magnitudes. We derive CS bolometric luminosities and effective temperatures using the Zanstra technique, from a combination of HST photometry and ground-based spectroscopic data. We present new unique photometric measurements of 50 CSs, and derived effective temperatures and luminosities for most of them. Central star masses for 23 targets were derived by placing the stars on a temperature-luminosity diagram and compare their location with the best available single star post-AGB evolutionary tracks, the remaining masses were indeterminate most likely because of underestimates of the stellar temperature, or because of substantial errors in the adopted statistical distances to these objects. The distribution of CS masses in the sample of compact PNe is different than sample in the LMC and SMC, but with a median mass of 0.59 solar masses it is similar to other Galactic samples. We conclude that the compact nature of many of the PNe is a result of their large distance, rather than their physical dimension., Comment: Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics 593, A29

The study of the chemical composition of Planetary Nebulae in external galaxies is of paramount importance in the fields of stellar evolution and of the chemical enrichment history of galaxies. In the last years a number of spectroscopic studies with 6-8m-class telescopes have been devoted to this subject improving our knowledge of, among other, the time-evolution of the radial metallicity gradient in disk galaxies, the chemical evolution of dwarf galaxies, and the stellar evolution at low metallicity., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, Invited Review to IAU Symposium 283, "Planetary Nebulae: an Eye to the Future", Tenerife, 25-29 July 2011

Extensive Montecarlo simulations of Post-Asymptotic Giant Branch (P-AGB) populations have been constructed, exploring the effects of various assumptions on synthetic H-R diagrams, luminosity functions, and inferred mass distributions. Such assumptions include the IMF, the initial mass-final mass relation, the AGB to PN transition time, the duration of the planetary nebula (PN) stage, etc. We have also investigated how the observational errors in luminosity and temperature propagate into the inferred mass distribution of the P-AGB stars.

During the last decade the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has allowed us to extend late stellar evolution studies to nearby galaxies where the effect of the environment can be quantified. Using HST we have observed over a hundred Planetary Nebulae (PNe) in the Magellanic Clouds, where its known distance has allowed us to determine accurate masses for their central stars. We find an average central star mass of 〈MCS,LMC〉=0.65±0.07 M⊙ in the Large Magellanic Cloud, higher than the one reported in the literature for both white dwarfs and the central stars of PNe in the Galaxy. Higher central star masses are expected in a lower metallicity environment as a consequence of the reduced mass-loss rates during the Asymptotic Giant Branch. We present the first observational evidence from PNe progenitors of this effect.

Nearby galaxies are ideal places to study in detail metallicity gradients and their time evolution. We consider chemical abundances of a new sample of \hii\ regions complemented with previous literature data-sets. We compare \hii\ region and PN abundances obtained with a common set of observations taken at MMT. With an updated theoretical model, we follow the time evolution of the baryonic components and chemical abundances in the disk of M33, assuming that the galaxy is accreting gas from an external reservoir. Supported by a uniform sample of nebular spectroscopic observations, we conclude that: {\em i}) the metallicity distribution in M33 is very complex, showing a central depression in metallicity probably due to observational bias; {\em ii}) the metallicity gradient in the disk of M33 has a slope of -0.037$\pm$ 0.009 dex kpc$^{-1}$ in the whole radial range up to $\sim$8 kpc, and -0.044$\pm$ 0.009 dex kpc$^{-1}$ excluding the central kpc; {\em iii}) there is a small evolution of the slope with time from the epoch of PN progenitor formation to the present-time.}, A&A accepted, 15 Pags, 13 Figs, language correction

We present simulations of dry-merger encounters between pairs of elliptical galaxies with dark matter halos. The aim of these simulations is to study the intergalactic stellar populations produced in both parabolic and hyperbolic encounters. We model progenitor galaxies with total-to-luminous mass ratios M_T/M_L 3 and 11. The initial mass of the colliding galaxies are chosen so that M_1/M_2 and 10. The model galaxies are populated by particles representing stars, as in Stanghellini et al. (2006), and dark matter. Merger remnants resulting from these encounters display a population of unbounded particles, both dark and luminous. The number of particles becoming unbounded depends on orbital configuration, with hyperbolic encounters producing a larger luminous intracluster population than parabolic encounters. Furthermore, in simulations with identical orbital parameters, a lower M_T/M_L of the colliding galaxies produces a larger fraction of unbounded luminous particles. For each modeled collision, the fraction of unbounded to initial stellar mass is the same in all mass-bins considered, similarly to what we found previously by modeling encounters of galaxies without dark halos. The fraction of intergalactic to total luminosity resulting from our simulations is ~ 4% and ~ 6% for dark-to-bright mass rations of 10 and 2 respectively. These unbounded-to-total luminous fractions are down from 17 % that we had previously found in the case of no dark halos. Our results are in broad agreement with intergalactic light observed in groups of galaxies, while the results of our previous models without dark halos better encompass observed intracluster populations. We suggest a possible formation scenario of intergalactic stars., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

In this review we address the progress that has been made toward the understanding the population of Magellanic Cloud planetary nebulae since the last Magellanic Cloud Symposium. Planetary nebulae in the Clouds are not only important as key probes of stellar and ISM evolution in these galaxies, but also reflect the evolution of AGB stars and beyond in low-metallicity environments. We present the recent surveys results, including the wide fields ground-based search for PNe, the {\it HST} study of the resolves ejecta and their central stars, and the {\it Spitzer} analysis of the gas contents of these ejecta. Finally, we show how Magellanic Cloud PNe can be used to constraint the distance scale of galactic PNe., Comment: Proceedings of the IAU Symposium 256, The Magellanic System; van Loon abd Oliveira (Eds.)

Galactic planetary nebula (PN) distances are derived, except in a small number of cases, through the calibration of statistical properties of PNe. Such calibrations are limited by the accuracy of individual PN distances which are obtained with several non-homogeneous methods, each carrying its own set of liabilities. In this paper we use the physical properties of the PNe in the Magellanic Clouds, and their accurately known distances, to recalibrate the Shklovsky/Daub distance technique. Our new calibration is very similar (within 1 percent) of the commonly used distance scale by Cahn et al. (1992), although there are important differences. We find that neither distance scale works well for PNe with classic ("butterfly") bipolar morphology, and while the radiation bounded PN sequences in both the Galactic and the Magellanic Cloud calibration have similar slopes, the transition from optically thick to optically thin appears to occur at higher surface brightness and smaller size than that adopted by Cahn et al. The dispersion in the determination of the scale factor suggests that PN distances derived by this method are uncertain by at least 30 percent, and that this dispersion cannot be reduced significantly by using better calibrators. We present a catalog of Galactic PN distances using our re-calibration which can be used for future applications, and compare the best individual Galactic PN distances to our new and several other distance scales, both in the literature and newly recalibrated by us, finding that our scale is the most reliable to date., Comment: The Astrophysical Journal, in press

The recent HST optical images, and the optical and ultraviolet spectra, of Magellanic Cloud planetary nebulae (PNe), together with the large database that has been collected in the past decade, allows unprecedented insight into the evolution of PNe and their central stars. In this paper we present a selection of recent results: The analysis of PN morphology, both in the optical and ultra-violet emission lines; the relation between nebular morphology and the chemistry produced by stellar evolution; the direct determination of the transition time from observations; and the study of the nature and evolutionary stage of the components of the planetary nebula luminosity function.

We present the properties of the central stars from a sample of 54 Planetary Nebulae (PNe) observed in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) with the Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS). The Hubble Space Telescope's spatial resolution allows us to resolve the central star from its nebula (and line-of-sight stars) at the distance of the LMC, eliminating the dependency on photoionization modeling in the determination of the stellar flux. For the PNe in which the central star is detected we obtain the stellar luminosities by directly measuring the stellar fluxes through broad-band imaging and the stellar temperatures through Zanstra analysis. From the position of the central stars in the HR diagram with respect to theoretical evolutionary tracks, we are able to determine reliable core masses for 21 central stars. By including the central star masses determined in this paper to the 16 obtained previously using the same technique (Villaver et al. 2003), we have increased the sample of central star masses in the LMC to 37, for which we find a non-Gaussian mass distribution. The average central star mass for this sample is = 0.65\pm 0.07 Msun, slightly higher than the one reported in the literature for both white dwarfs and the central stars of PNe in the Galaxy. If significant, this higher average central star mass in the LMC can be understood in terms of a metallicity dependency on mass-loss rates during the Asymptotic Giant Branch, since the LMC has on average half the metallicity compared to the Galaxy. Finally, for the 37 objects analyzed in the LMC, we do not find any significant correlation between the mass of the central star and the morphology of the nebula., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal, 23 pages, 4 figures

We present images and slitless spectra which were obtained in HST surveys of Planetary Nebulae (PNe) in both the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. These new data on 59 PNe (54 in the LMC and five in the SMC) permit us to determine the nebular dimensions and morphology in the monochromatic light of several emission lines: Halpha, [N II] lambda 6583 and [O III] lambda 5007, plus others of varying ionization, including [O I], He I, and [S II]. We describe the nebular morphology and related features in detail. This survey, when combined with similar data from our prior HST programs and other archived PN images, brings the total of nebulae imaged with HST to 114 in the LMC and 35 in the SMC. We describe various basic properties for the sample, including sizes, morphologies, densities, and completeness. Trends in [O III] lambda 5007 flux, surface brightness, and electron density with physical radius suggest that many nebulae, particularly those with bipolar morphology, may be optically thick even at large size. Bipolars also show the most extreme values of [N II]/Halpha flux ratios, which is a rough indicator N enrichment., Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal, 65 pages, 26 figures, 6 tables. For a high resolution version of Figs 4 to 19, see http://archive.stsci.edu/hst/mcpn/home.html

Planetary Nebulae (PNs) in the Magellanic Clouds offer the unique opportunity to study both the population and evolution of low- and intermediate-mass stars, in an environment that is free of the distance scale bias and the differential reddening that hinder the observations of the Galactic sample. The study of LMC and SMC PNs also offers the direct comparison of stellar populations with different metallicity. The relative proximity of the Magellanic Clouds allows detailed spectroscopic analysis of the PNs therein, while the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is necessary to obtain their spatially-resolved images. In this paper we discuss the history and evolution of this relatively recent branch of stellar astrophysics by reviewing the pioneering studies, and the most recent ground- and space-based achievements. In particular, we present the results from our recent HST surveys, including the metallicity dependence of PN identification (and, ultimately, the metallicity dependence of PN counts in galaxies); the morphological analysis of Magellanic PNs, and the correlations between morphology and other nebular properties; the relations between morphology and progenitor mass and age; and the direct analysis of Magellanic central stars and their importance to stellar evolution. Our morphological results are broadly consistent with the predictions of stellar evolution if the progenitors of asymmetric PNs have on average larger masses than the progenitors of symmetric PNs, without any assumption or relation to binarity of the stellar progenitors.

We present a study on the central stars (CSs) of Planetary Nebulae (PNe) observed in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph instrument on-board the HST. The stellar magnitudes have been measured using broad-band photometry, and Zanstra analysis of the nebulae provided the stellar temperatures. From the location of the CSs on the HR diagram, and by comparing the observed CSs with current models of stellar evolution, we infer the CSs masses. We examine closely the possibility of light contamination in the bandpass from an unrecognized stellar companion, and we establish strong constraints on the existence and nature of any binary companion. We find an average mass of 0.63 Msun, which is similar to the mass obtained for a sample of CSs in the LMC (0.65 Msun). However, the SMC and LMC CS mass distributions differ slightly, the SMC sample lacking an intermediate-mass stellar population (0.65 to 0.75 Msun). We discuss the significance and possible reasons for the difference between the two mass distributions. In particular, we consider the differences in the star formation history between the clouds and the mass-loss rate dependence on metallicity., Comment: 30 pages, 6 figures, 5 tables. To be published in ApJ (October 20)

Northern Galactic Planetary nebulae (PNs) are studied to disclose possible correlations between the morphology of the nebulae and the evolution of the central stars (CSs). To this end, we have built the best database available to date, accounting for homogeneity and completeness. We use updated statistical distances, an updated morphological classification scheme, and we calculate Zanstra temperatures for a large sample of PNs. With our study we confirm that round, elliptical, and bipolar PNs have different spatial distributions within the Galaxy, with average absolute distances to the Galactic plane 0.73, 0.38, and 0.21 kpc respectively. We also find evidence that the distributions of the central star's masses are different across these morphological groups, although we do not find that CSs hosted by bipolar PNs are hotter, on average, than CSs within round and elliptical PNs. Our results are in broad agreement with the previous analyses, indicating that round, elliptical, and bipolar PNs evolve from progenitors in different mass ranges, and may belong to different stellar populations, as also indicated by the helium and nitrogen abundances of PNs of different morphology., 31 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ

We explore the realm of post-Asymptotic Giant Branch (post-AGB) stars from a theoretical viewpoint, by constructing synthetic population of transition objects, proto-Planetary Nebulae, Planetary Nebulae Nuclei, and post-Planetary Nebulae objects. We use the Montecarlo procedure to filter out the populations accordingly to a given set of assumptions. We explore the parameter space by studying the effects of the Initial Mass Function (IMF), the Initial Mass-Final Mass Relation (IMFMR), the transition time (t_tr), the envelope mass at the end of the envelope ejection (Me_r), the planetary nebula lifetime t_PN, the hydrogen- and helium-burning phases of the central stars. The results are discussed on the basis of the HR diagram distributions, on the Mv-t plane, and with mass histograms. We found that: (1) the dependence of the synthetic populations on the assumed IMF and IMFMR is generally mild; (2) the Me_r indetermination produces very high indeterminations on the t_tr and thus on the resulting post-AGB populations; (3) the synthetic models give a test check for the ratio of He- to H-burning PNNi. In this paper, disk post-AGB populations are considered. Future applications will include Magellanic Clouds PNe, and populations of bulges and elliptical galaxies., 2 tables, 27 figures (gif format) The Astrophysical Journal, accepted

Planetary Nebulae (PNe) have been used satisfactory to test the effects of stellar evolution on the Galactic chemical environment. Moreover, a link exists between nebular morphology and stellar populations and evolution. We present the latest results on Galactic PN morphology, and an extension to a distance unbiased and homogeneous sample of Large Magellanic Cloud PNe. We show that PNe and their morphology may be successfully used as probes of stellar evolution and populations.

Recent observations of multiple shell planetary nebulae confirm the existing subdivision into two morphological types: attached halo and detached halo. The multiple shell phenomenon appears in about twenty-five percent of round and elliptical planetary nebulae of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias morphological survey. The analysis of these nebulae together with that of their central stars lead to the interpretation that detached halo nebulae are formed through discontinuous mass loss at the Asymptotic Giant Branch tip. The attached halo nebulae, instead, are probably produced via dynamical nebular shaping.

The discrepancy between the observed abundances of 3He in the ISM and those predicted by stellar and galactic chemical evolution remains largely unexplained. In this paper, we attempt to shed some light on this unsolved problem by presenting a quantitative comparison of the 3He abundances recently measured in six planetary nebulae (PNe) with the corresponding predictions of stellar evolution theory. The determination of the mass of the PNe progenitors allows us to dismiss, to a good degree of confidence, the hypothesis that the abundance of 3He in the envelope of all low-mass stars is strongly reduced with respect to the standard theoretical values by some mixing mechanism acting in the latest phases of stellar evolution. The abundance versus mass correlation, allowance made for the limitation of the sample, is in fact found to be fully consistent with the classical prediction of stellar evolution. We examine the implications of this result on the galactic evolution of 3He with the help of a series of models with standard and non-standard nucleosynthesis prescriptions. The results are found to be consistent with the observed galactic abundances only if the vast majority of low-mass stars follows non-standard prescriptions. This implies that either the sample of PNe nebulae under exam is highly biased, or the solution to the 3He problem lies elsewhere., 13 pages, LaTeX, 4 Figures. To be published in The Astrophysical Journal

We show how the different assumptions on the transition time (the time lag between the superwind quenching at the AGB and the illumination of the Planetary Nebula [PN]) reflect into very different theoretical outcomes, both in the characteristics of the stellar remnants, and in the evolution of the nebular shells.We use a Monte Carlo simulation of post-AGB stars with a set of assumptions on the transition time, to show the effect on the resulting location of the stars on the HR diagram, and on the derived core mass distributions.We have also performed numerical simulations of the PN formation process, and investigated the effects of the transition time on the resulting PN structure. We found that the transition time determines not only the size of the PN shell, but also its dynamical evolution.We show the important implications that the transition time has on the observable parameters during the PN stage.

The Astrophysical Journal 753.2 (2012): 172 reproduced by permission of the AAS, We present the Spitzer/Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) spectra of 157 compact Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe). These young PNe provide insight on the effects of dust in early post-asymptotic giant branch evolution, before much of the dust is altered or destroyed by the hardening stellar radiation field. Most of the selected targets have PN-type IRS spectra, while a few turned out to be misclassified stars. We inspected the group properties of the PN spectra and classified them based on the different dust classes (featureless or F, carbon-rich dust or CRD, oxygen-rich dust or ORD, mixed-chemistry dust or MCD) and subclasses (aromatic and aliphatic, and crystalline and amorphous). All PNe are characterized by dust continuum and more than 80% of the sample shows solid-state features above the continuum, in contrast with the Magellanic Cloud sample where only ∼40% of the entire sample displays solid-state features; this is an indication of the strong link between dust properties and metallicity. The Galactic PNe that show solid-state features are almost equally divided among the CRD, ORD, and MCD. We analyzed dust properties together with other PN properties and found that (1) there is an enhancement of MCD PNe toward the Galactic center, in agreement with studies of Galactic bulge PNe; (2) CRD PNe could be seen as defining an evolutionary sequence, contrary to the ORD and MCD PNe, which are scattered in all evolutionary diagrams; (3) carbon-rich and oxygen-rich grains retain different equilibrium temperatures, as expected from models; and (4) ORD PNe are highly asymmetric, i.e., bipolar or bipolar core, and CRD PNe highly symmetric, i.e., round or elliptical; point symmetry is statistically more common in MCD than in other dust class PNe. By comparing the sample of this paper to that of Magellanic Cloud PNe, we find that the latter sample does not include MCD PNe, and the other dust classes are differently populated, with continuity of the fraction of F, CRD, ORD, and MCD populations from high to low metallicity environments. We also find similar sequences for CRD PNe in the Galactic disk and the Magellanic Clouds, except that the Magellanic Cloud PNe seem to attain higher dust temperatures at similar evolutionary stages, in agreement with the observational findings of smaller dust grains (i.e., lower radiation efficiency) in low metallicity interstellar environments., Support for this work was provided by NASA through a grant issued by JPL/Caltech for Spitzer Program GO 50261. We acknowledge support from the Faculty of the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC). D.A.G.H. and A.M. also acknowledge support provided by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) under a 2008 JdC grant and under grant AYA-2007-64748. E.V. acknowledges support provided by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) under grant AYA2010-20630 and to the Marie Curie FP7-People-RG268111.

We present a study on the filling factors and ionized masses of four sets of galactic and extra-galactic planetary nebulae (PNe) at known distances. The calculation of filling factors and ionized masses has been pursued as to get a deeper insight on the evolution of this class of objects. We used a galactic set of PNe, another set of nebulae that are averagely located near the galactic center, and two sets of nebulae in the Magellanic Clouds. As input data, we used the electron densities derived from the forbidden line intensity ratios, the Hβ nebular fluxes, the distances of galactic PNe derived from extinction, and the distances of galactic center PNe and of extra-galactic PNe derived from galaxy (or galactic region) memberships. All these quantities, plus the input angular radii, have been selected among the most recent measurements available in the literature. We obtained several interesting results. (1) The calculated filling factors are on average much smaller than what is usually assumed, independently for each set. (2) The ionized masses are all in good agreement with the theoretical predictions, with the possible exception of the Galactic Bulge PNe. (3) Both filling factors and ionized masses cover a wide range of values as it is shown in the cumulative histograms below (filled circles=local PNe; open circles=galactic center PNe; filled squares=LMC PNe; open squares=SMC PNe).

We present narrow band images and spectra illustrating the morphological and kinematical characteristics of a new class of planetary nebulae. It consists of all those objects in the catalogue by Schwarz et al. (1992) whose morphology shows no other symmetries than point-reflection about the central source. This peculiar shape is often determined by pairs of ansae or blobs separated from the central body of the nebula. The kinematical data show both low (e.g. IC 4634) and high (He 2–186; V exp > 135 km s-1) velocity outflows.

Extensive Montecarlo simulations of Post-Asymptotic Giant Branch (P-AGB) populations have been constructed, exploring the effects of various assumptions on synthetic H-R diagrams, luminosity functions, and inferred mass distributions. Such assumptions include the IMF, the initial mass-final mass relation, the AGB to PN transition time, the duration of the planetary nebula (PN) stage, etc. We have also investigated how the observational errors in luminosity and temperature propagate into the inferred mass distribution of the P-AGB stars.

Extensive Montecarlo simulations of populations of post-Asymptotic Giant Branch (P-AGB) stars have been constructed. The time evolution of luminosity and effective temperature for any stellar mass has been approximated by suitable analytical approximations based on the P-AGB evolutionary tracks of Paczynski (1971, Acta Astron. 21, 417) and Schonberner (1983, A&A 79, 108). By constructing synthetic HR diagrams for P-AGB stars we explore the effects of various assumptions, such as the IMF, the initial mass-final mass relation, the AGB to PN transition time, etc. We have also investigated how the uncertainties in the various assumptions and observational errors in luminosity and temperature propagate into the inferred mass distribution of the P-AGB stars. As an example of the possible applications, we show in the Figure the mass distributions of two P-AGB populations, which differ only on the effective temperatures. We have assumed a systematic error in the observed temperature, such as logT obs = 1.01.log T true + 0.01. Such an error is very small in comparison to usual Zanstra temperature uncertainties for Planetary Nebula Nuclei, yet the two distributions are remarkably different. The broken line represents the observed distribution. The mean mass are respectively = 0.594 for the true distribution (i. e. using T true), and = 0.628 for the observed one (i. e. using Tobs). This simulation emphasizes the need for accurate temperatures in order to obtain useful mass distributions for P-AGB stars, when using an observed distribution of P-AGB stars in the HR diagram. Further applications and details will be included in a forthcoming paper (Stanghellini & Renzini, in preparation).

In order to compare the evolutionary time of planetary nebula nuclei (PNNs) to the kinematical age of the planetary nebula (PN) one has to specify the AGB to PN transition time, i.e., the time taken by the central star to become hot enough for hydrogen ionization (∼30,000 K). We have shown that, whatever the physical process driving the transition, the transition time depends on the residual envelope mass after the cessation of the AGB superwind, i.e., on a quantity that current theory can hardly predict at all. Given this serious limitation, we have envisaged an empirical approach which can set limits on the transition time, and possibly determine its average value

We present a study on the filling factors and ionized masses of four sets of galactic and extra–galactic planetary nebulae (PNe) at known distances. The calculation of filling factors and ionized masses has been pursued as to get a deeper insight on the evolution of this class of objects. We used a galactic set of PNe, another set of nebulae that are averagely located near the galactic center, and two sets of nebulae in the Magellanic Clouds. As input data, we used the electron densities derived from the forbidden line intensity ratios, the Hβ nebular fluxes, the distances of galactic PNe derived from extinction, and the distances of galactic center PNe and of extra–galactic PNe derived from galaxy (or galactic region) memberships. All these quantities, plus the input angular radii, have been selected among the most recent measurements available in the literature. We obtained several interesting results. (1) The calculated filling factors are on average much smaller than what is usually assumed, independently for each set. (2) The ionized masses are all in good agreement with the theoretical predictions, with the possible exception of the Galactic Bulge PNe. (3) Both filling factors and ionized masses cover a wide range of values as it is shown in the cumulative histograms below (filled circles=local PNe; open circles=galactic center PNe; filled squares=LMC PNe; open squares=SMC PNe).

Stability analyses are performed for nonradial g(+)-mode pulsations of postasymptotic AGB stellar models to determine the location of their pulsational instability strips in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Stellar models are analyzed that are assumed to have undergone a major mass loss event either near the tip of the AGB or shortly thereafter and, therefore, consist of a 50-percent carbon 50-percent oxygen core. Their mass is 0.6 solar mass, which is in good agreement with the peak of the observed distribution of white dwarf masses. The results are compared both to the observed planetary nebula nuclei variables and the hot pulsating DO variables. An analysis is also presented of the stability of DB white dwarfs, which have much deeper and stronger convection zones, and an instability strip is found between about 18,000 and 26,000 K approximately as observed for the known variable stars.