Carbon dust in the evolved born-again planetary nebulae A30 and A78

TL;DR

This study uses infrared observations and modeling to analyze the dust and gas in the born-again planetary nebulae A30 and A78, revealing dust formation, survival, and composition, and estimating ejected mass and C/O ratio.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed IR characterization and dust modeling of A30 and A78, demonstrating dust survival and composition in harsh environments post-born-again event.

Findings

Dust forms immediately after the born-again event.

Dust temperatures are 40-230 K, lower than previous estimates.

Estimated ejected mass is around 7.6 x 10^-3 solar masses.

Abstract

We present an infrared (IR) characterization of the born-again planetary nebulae (PNe) A30 and A78 using IR images and spectra. We demonstrate that the carbon-rich dust in A30 and A78 is spatially coincident with the H-poor ejecta and coexists with hot X-ray-emitting gas up to distances of 50$''$ from the central stars (CSPNs). Dust forms immediately after the born-again event and survives for 1000 yr in the harsh environment around the CSPN as it is destroyed and pushed away by radiation pressure and dragged by hydrodynamical effects. Spitzer IRS spectral maps showed that the broad spectral features at 6.4 and 8.0 $\mu$m, attributed to amorphous carbon formed in H-deficient environments, are associated with the disrupted disk around their CSPN, providing an optimal environment for charge exchange reactions with the stellar wind that produces the soft X-ray emission of these sources. Nebular and dust properties are modeled for A30 with Cloudy taking into account different carbonaceous dust species. Our models predict dust temperatures in the 40-230 K range, five times lower than predicted by previous works. Gas and dust masses for the born-again ejecta in A30 are estimated to be $M_\mathrm{gas}=(4.41^{+0.55}_{-0.14})\times10^{-3}$ M$_\odot$ and $M_\mathrm{dust}=(3.20^{+3.21}_{-2.06})\times10^{-3}$ M$_\odot$, which can be used to estimate a total ejected mass and mass-loss rate for the born-again event of $(7.61^{+3.76}_{-2.20})\times10^{-3}$ M$_{\odot}$ and $\dot{M}=[5-60]\times10^{-5}$ M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$, respectively. Taking into account the carbon trapped into dust grains, we estimate that the C/O mass ratio of the H-poor ejecta of A30 is larger than 1, which favors the very late thermal pulse model over the alternate hypothesis of a nova-like event.