The nearby AGB star L2 Puppis: the birth of a planetary nebula ?

TL;DR

This study investigates the nearby AGB star L2 Puppis, revealing a dust disk and potential companion, suggesting it may be in the early stages of planetary nebula formation and offering insights into the shaping mechanisms of stellar mass loss.

Contribution

The paper presents high-resolution infrared and visible observations of L2 Pup, identifying a dust disk and a secondary source, proposing their roles in planetary nebula formation.

Findings

Detection of a dust disk seen edge-on around L2 Pup

Identification of a secondary source at 32 mas separation

Evidence supporting the role of the disk and companion in nebula shaping

Abstract

Adaptive optics observations in the infrared (VLT/NACO, Kervella et al. 2014) and visible (VLT/SPHERE, Kervella et al. 2015) domains revealed that the nearby AGB star L2 Pup (d=64 pc) is surrounded by a dust disk seen almost edge-on. Thermal emission from a large dust "loop" is detected at 4 microns up to more than 10 AU from the star. We also detect a secondary source at a separation of 32 mas, whose nature is uncertain. L2 Pup is currently a relatively "young" AGB star, so we may witness the formation of a planetary nebula. The mechanism that breaks the spherical symmetry of mass loss is currently uncertain, but we propose that the dust disk and companion are key elements in the shaping of the bipolar structure. L2 Pup emerges as an important system to test this hypothesis.