A Search for Planetary Nebulae in M31 Globular Clusters

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Discrepancies with the traditional theory of formation of planetary nebulae (PNe) are mounting. It seems that few, if any, PNe form from single stars (like the Sun); instead, they form via binary-star interactions. Part of the evidence comes from the 4 PNe in Galactic globular clusters (GCs): simple stellar evolution predicts a population of ~ 16 PNe. These 4 PNe have central stars more massive than GC white dwarfs should be, and 3 of the 4 are located in binary- rich GCs. Since the Galaxy has only ~ 150 GCs, the statistics can only be improved by looking in other galaxies. We propose to improve the statistics by a factor of ~ 3 (from 2- 3σ to ~5σ) by surveying the M31 GC system with the Hydra spectrograph on WIYN. By searching for a PN's [O III] (lambda) 5007 emission in > 500 M31 GCs, and correlating the results with properties such as cluster X-ray brightness and turn-off mass, we can directly test several aspects of the binary origin hypothesis. The PN field is focused on this question: a collaboration of 24 astronomers in 12 countries are now studying the problem via a suite of 13 different observational tests and 3 theoretical investigations (see http://www.wiyn.org/planb/.) This experiment is a key part of that effort.

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