The Asymmetric X-ray Morphologies of Planetary Nebulae

Physics

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Normal Stars And White Dwarfs

Scientific paper

Planetary nebulae, the ejected outer envelopes of expired stars with initial masses in the range ~1-8 Msolar, have long been known to exhibit large departures from spherical symmetry in optical images. With the recent discovery by Chandra of extended X-ray emission from a handful of planetaries, we can investigate for the first time how such asymmetries manifest themselves at high energy. In particular, Chandra images have revealed that the X-ray emitting regions of the young planetary nebulae BD +30o 3639 and NGC 7027 are much more asymmetric than the optical nebulosities. The rather low X-ray emission temperatures of both objects (Tx ~3×106 K) support the notion that heat conduction effects, and hence magnetic fields, determine their X-ray emission morphologies. The observed asymmetries also could be generated by a combination of clumpy extinction and collimated outflows, however. To evaluate these possibilities, we are conducting a quantitative study of the optical, IR, and X-ray morphologies of these objects.

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