Interacting planetary nebulae III: Verification and galactic population based on the measurements of Gaia EDR3

TL;DR

This study uses Gaia EDR3 data to verify and analyze the interaction between planetary nebulae and the interstellar medium, confirming some interactions and disproving others, while exploring their galactic population distribution.

Contribution

It provides a method to verify PN-ISM interactions using Gaia proper motion and parallax data, and analyzes the galactic population of confirmed interacting PNe.

Findings

Verified 68 PNe as genuine PN-ISM interactors.

Disproved interaction in 33 PNe, identifying false positives.

Found 41% of verified PNe belong to the galactic thin disk, 41% to the thick disk.

Abstract

The phenomenon of interaction between planetary nebulae (PNe) and the interstellar medium (ISM) is one of the significant issues in the field of astrophysics. The main objective of this paper is to verify the interaction process for objects that have been known as interacting PNe (IPNe) in the literature. This study is based on parallax and proper motion observations facilitated recently by the early third data release of the Gaia space mission. Based on the proper nebular central star (CS) motion towards the region of interaction between the PN and ISM, we were able to verify the interaction process for a group of 68 PNe and disprove the interaction process for a group of 33 PNe. The members of both groups were confirmed as genuine PN-ISM interacting objects in the literature. The members belonging to the 33 PNe group are false PN-ISM interacting objects that mimic the structure of IPNe. Moreover, we calculated the physical and kinematic properties of the verified group and analyzed their galactic population classification using reliable and precise measurements of the proper motion and parallax of the CS. We find that 41\% and 41\% of this group are associated with galactic thin and thick disks, respectively, while 18\% are members of thin or thick disks. The kinematical results show that the galactic thin-disk members have smaller vertical galactic heights, space velocities, and peculiar velocities than those belonging to the galactic thick disk.