The Youngest Pre-Planetary Nebulae: An Interferometric Snapshot Survey of CO J=1-0 emission

Other

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

1

Scientific paper

The transition between the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) to the Planetary Nebula (PN) stage through the intermediate evolutionary stage of Pre-Planetary Nebula (PPN) is characterized by dramatic changes in the morphology and kinematics of the circumstellar envelopes associated with these objects. At some point in the late AGB stage a process (or processes) becomes operative that accelerates and imposes bipolarity upon the slow, spherical AGB winds. What produces bipolarity in these objects and at what stage of evolution does bipolarity manifest itself are key questions of post-AGB evolution that remain yet poorly understood. We are carrying out a multi-wavelength imaging/spectroscopic survey searching for bipolarity (and other systematic departures from sphericity) and fast outflows in OH/IR stars, which are the immediate predecessors of PPNe (i.e. the youngest PPNe). Our main goal is to probe, in their infancy, the physical processes that produce asphericity. This ongoing survey includes optical imaging/spectroscopy of a large sample of candidate young PPNe, selected from catalogs of OH/IR stars (see R. Sahai & C. Sánchez Contreras in this session) and CO J=1-0 emission interferometric observations (using the OVRO Millimeter Array) of our best PPNe candidates (i.e. objects with aspherical morphology in the optical and/or intense, broad Hα emission). Here we report the first results from our CO emission mapping survey. These data probe cool, dense molecular gas, which comprises the most massive component of these objects. CO emission data are crucial for estimating several important physical parameters, such as the systemic velocity (useful for deriving the source distance using a Galactic rotation model), the terminal velocities of the slow and fast winds (when present), the mass-loss rates, and the total circumstellar mass and linear momentum, which are needed to get a better understanding of post-AGB evolution. This work is partially funded through a NSF grant (No. 9981546) to OVRO and NASA LTSA grant (No. 399-30-61-00-00) to R.S.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

The Youngest Pre-Planetary Nebulae: An Interferometric Snapshot Survey of CO J=1-0 emission does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with The Youngest Pre-Planetary Nebulae: An Interferometric Snapshot Survey of CO J=1-0 emission, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Youngest Pre-Planetary Nebulae: An Interferometric Snapshot Survey of CO J=1-0 emission will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1890817

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.