# High velocity string of knots in the outburst of the Planetary Nebula Hb4

## TL;DR

This study models the complex, knotty outflows of the Hb4 planetary nebula, revealing a decelerating velocity pattern likely caused by shock interactions, and suggests a binary central star system.

## Contribution

It provides a detailed 3D morpho-kinematical model of Hb4's outflows, identifying them as strings of knots from recurrent ejection events, and links their velocity law to shock interactions.

## Key findings

- Outflows consist of knots ejected every 200-250 years.
- Knots exhibit deceleration likely due to shock collisions.
- Evidence suggests a binary central star system.

## Abstract

The bipolar collimated outflows of the Hb4 Planetary Nebula (PN) exhibit an evident decrease in their expansion velocity with respect to the distance from the central star. So far, similar velocity law has also been found in Herbig-Haro objects. The interpretation of this peculiar velocity law and the classification of the outflows is the main focal point of this paper. High dispersion long-slit echelle spectra along with high resolution images from Hubble Space Telescope (HST) are applied in the astronomical code SHAPE in order to reproduce a three-dimensional morpho-kinematical model for the core and the bipolar outflows. Its central part shows a number of low-ionization filamentary structures (knots and jets) indicative of common-envelope PNe evolution and it is reconstructed assuming a toroidal structure. The high-resolution HST [N II] image of Hb4 unveils the fragmented structure of outflows. The northern and southern outflows are composed by four and three knots, respectively, and each knot moves outwards with its own expansion velocity. They are reconstructed as string of knots rather than jets.This string of knots is formed by ejection events repeated every 200- 250 years. Hb4 displays several indirect evidence for a binary central system with a [WR] companion evolved through the common envelopes channel.The observed deceleration of the knots is likely associated with shock collisions between the knots and the interstellar medium or nebular material.