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Binary stars as the key to understanding planetary nebulae

Abstract

Planetary nebulae are traditionally considered to represent the final evolutionary stage of all intermediate-mass stars (0.7–8 M). Recent evidence seems to contradict this picture. In particular, since the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, it has been clear that planetary nebulae display a wide range of striking morphologies that cannot be understood in a single-star scenario, instead pointing towards binary evolution in a majority of systems. Here, we summarize our current understanding of the importance of binarity in the formation and shaping of planetary nebulae, as well as the surprises that recent observational studies have revealed with respect to our understanding of binary evolution in general. These advances have critical implications for the understanding of mass transfer processes in binary stars—particularly the all-important but ever-so-poorly understood ‘common envelope phase’—as well as the formation of cosmologically important type Ia supernovae.

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Figure 1: A selection of planetary nebulae known to host binary central stars, highlighting the wide array of morphologies observed in these objects.
Figure 2: The PN Abell 63, the central star of which was the first to be confirmed as a binary (UU Sagittae).
Figure 3: Amplitude of irradiation effect variability as a function of period/separation, inclination and secondary-star spectral type103 for a base system of a 100,000 K, 0.6 M remnant (taken from evolutionary tracks61) in a one-day orbit inclined at 70°.
Figure 4: Period distribution of known binary central stars with the companion type indicated where appropriate.

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Acknowledgements

This work makes use of data obtained from the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes Archive, which is maintained as part of the CASU Astronomical Data Centre at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge. D.J. would like to thank F. Jiménez Luján, P. Jones Jiménez and D. Jones Jiménez.

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Jones, D., Boffin, H. Binary stars as the key to understanding planetary nebulae. Nat Astron 1, 0117 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-017-0117

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