Time-variable non-thermal emission in the planetary nebula IRAS 15103-5754

TL;DR

This study reports the first observation of variable non-thermal, synchrotron radio emission in a young planetary nebula, IRAS 15103-5754, indicating the onset of the PN phase through spectral changes.

Contribution

It provides the first evidence of synchrotron emission in a planetary nebula and links spectral evolution to the early ionization processes.

Findings

Detected non-thermal synchrotron emission in 2010-2011.

Spectral index changed from -0.54 to -0.28 between 2010-2012.

Spectral flattening may mark the beginning of the planetary nebula phase.

Abstract

The beginning of photoionization marks the transition between the post-Asymptotic Giant Branch (post-AGB) and planetary nebula (PN) phases of stars with masses < 8 M_sun. This critical phase is difficult to observe, as it lasts only a few decades. The combination of jets and magnetic fields, the key agents of PNe shaping, could give rise to synchrotron emission, but this has never been observed before in any PNe, since free-free emission from the ionized gas is expected to dominate its radio spectrum. In this paper we report radio continuum observations taken with the Australia Telescope Compact Array between 1 and 46 GHz of the young PN IRAS 15103-5754. Our observations in 2010-2011 show non-thermal emission compatible with synchrotron emission from electrons accelerated at a shock with spectral index $\alpha \simeq -0.54$. However, in 2012, the spectral index $\alpha \simeq -0.28$ is no longer compatible with synchrotron emission in these types of processes. Several hypothesis are discussed to explain this change. The more plausible ones are related to the presence of the newly photoionized region in this young PN: either energy loss of electrons due to Coulomb collisions with the plasma, or selective suppression of synchrotron radiation due to the Razin effect. We postulate that the observed flattening of non-thermal radio spectra could be a hallmark identifying the beginning of the PN phase.