Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Oct 1995
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1995apj...452..515s&link_type=abstract
Astrophysical Journal v.452, p.515
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
12
Cosmology: Distance Scale, Galaxies: Stellar Content, Ism: Planetary Nebulae: General, Stars: Evolution
Scientific paper
The planetary nebula luminosity function (PNLF) depends on the physical characteristics and evolutionary paths of the components. Changes in the nebular and stellar parameters may influence the extragalactic distance scale based on the PNLF. We aim at studying from a theoretical viewpoint how changes in the physical conditions of the parent galaxy and the evolutionary paths of the central stars and nebulae propagate into the PNLF. By means of synthesis of post-asymptotic giant branch evolution, we have tested the invariance of the distance scale based on the Hβ PNLF for changes in the evolutionary timescales, in the initial mass-final mass relation, and in the number of optically thick planetary nebulae (PNs) populating the PNLF. We start with a theoretical Hβ PNLF truncated at M∫ < 0.7 Msun, which we successfully check against its empirical homologue for SMC and LMC PNs. We obtain that small shifts in the transition time evolve into Hβ magnitude shifts of the high-luminosity cutoff up to 0.75 mag for constant star formation rate populations only, while intermediate/old populations are almost invariant with respect to these evolutionary time differences. We also obtain that a different initial mass-final mass relation does propagate into shifts in the Hβ PNLF, the effects being important only for young stellar populations. Finally, the high-luminosity cutoff of the Hβ PNLF seems to be invariant to the number of PNs considered. Overall, our results indicate that extreme care should be taken when using Hβ PNLF in the context of high-mass-high-luminosity PNs.
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