Three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of L2 Puppis

TL;DR

This study uses 3D hydrodynamic simulations to model L2 Puppis, an AGB star potentially forming a bipolar planetary nebula, by reproducing observations through simulated stellar material ejections.

Contribution

First 3D hydrodynamic simulations of L2 Puppis incorporating radiative transfer to match observational data and explore possible mass ejection scenarios.

Findings

Simulated dense material ejection can reproduce observed features.

A short pulse of material from the AGB star explains current observations.

Ejection scenarios may involve thermal pulses, binary interactions, or planetary ingestion.

Abstract

Recent observations of the L2 Puppis system suggest that this Mira-like variable may be in the early stages of forming a bipolar planetary nebula (PN). As one of nearest and brightest AGB stars, thought be a binary, L2 Puppis serves as a benchmark object for studying the late-stages of stellar evolution. We perform global, three-dimensional, adaptive-mesh-refinement hydrodynamic simulations of the L2 Puppis system with AstroBEAR. We use the radiative transfer code RADMC-3D to construct the broad-band spectral-energy-distribution (SED) and synthetic observational images from our simulations. Given the reported binary parameters, we are able to reproduce the current observational data if a short pulse of dense material is released from the AGB star with a velocity sufficient to escape the primary but not the binary. Such a situation could result from a thermal pulse, be induced by a periastron passage of the secondary, or could be launched if the primary ingests a planet.