Recombination of hot ionized nebulae: The old planetary nebula around V4334 Sgr (Sakurai's star)

TL;DR

This study observes the slow recombination process in the nebula around V4334 Sgr after ionization ceased, providing insights into plasma evolution and potential solutions for sulfur abundance anomalies.

Contribution

It offers the first long-term spectroscopic monitoring of a nebula recombining after a VLTP event, revealing unexpected sulfur ionization states.

Findings

Hydrogen and helium lines remain stable over time.

[N II] lines increase slightly, [O III] lines decrease, indicating ionization changes.

[S III] lines do not decrease as predicted, suggesting higher [S IV] fractions.

Abstract

After becoming ionized, low-density astrophysical plasmas will begin a process of slow recombination. Models for this still have significant uncertainties. The recombination cannot normally be observed in isolation, because the ionization follows the evolutionary time scale of the ionizing source. Laboratory experiments are unable to reach the appropriate conditions because of the required very long time scales. The extended nebula around the very late helium flash (VLTP) star V4334 Sgr provides a unique laboratory for this kind of study. The sudden loss of the ionizing UV radiation after the VLTP event has allowed the nebula to recombine free from other influences. More than 290 long slit spectra taken with FORS1/2 at the ESO VLT between 2007 and 2022 are used to follow the time evolution of lines of H, He, N, S, O, Ar. Hydrogen and helium lines, representing most of the ionized mass, do not show significant changes. A small increase is seen in [N II] (+2.8 %/yr; significance 2.7 sigma), while we see a decrease in [O III] (-1.96 %/yr; 2.0 sigma). The [S II] lines show a change of +3.0 %/yr; 1.6 sigma). The lines of [S III] and of Ar III] show no significant change. For [S III], the measurement differs from the predicted decrease by 4.5 sigma. A possible explanation is that the fraction of [S IV] and higher is larger than expected. Such an effect could provide a potential solution for the sulfur anomaly in planetary nebulae.