Revealing the Nature of Asymmetric Planetary Nebulae through Abundance Analysis

TL;DR

This study investigates the link between planetary nebula shapes and their progenitor stars by analyzing chemical abundances, revealing that asymmetric nebulae mainly originate from massive AGB stars in different galactic environments.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the origins of asymmetric planetary nebulae by combining spectral abundance analysis with stellar evolution models.

Findings

Most asymmetric PNe originate from massive AGB stars.

The correlation holds across the Galaxy and Magellanic Clouds.

Abundance analysis supports the link between morphology and progenitor mass.

Abstract

The correlations between planetary nebula (PN) morphology and the nature of their progenitors are explored by examining homogeneous PN samples in the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds. We selected PNe with reliable abundances from spectral analysis, and whose morphology is known, and compared the abundances of the element at variance with stellar evolution with the final yields of Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stellar models. We found that most asymmetric PNe derive from the evolution of massive AGB stars both in the Galactic disk and the Magellanic Clouds.