Periodic Variability of the Central Stars of Planetary Nebulae Surveyed through the Zwicky Transient Facility

TL;DR

This study uses Zwicky Transient Facility data to identify periodic brightness variations in the central stars of planetary nebulae, revealing new binary systems and peculiar variability patterns that enhance understanding of their evolution.

Contribution

It provides the first large-scale survey of PNe central star variability using ZTF data, discovering 19 new binary candidates and identifying unusual light curve behaviors.

Findings

39 PNe central stars show periodic brightness variations

19 are newly discovered binary systems

Additional variable stars with anomalous or peculiar light curves

Abstract

A consensus has been reached in recent years that binarity plays an important role in the formation and evolution of a significant fraction of planetary nebulae (PNe). Utilizing the archived photometric data from the Zwicky Transient Facility survey, we conducted a comprehensive data mining in search for brightness variations in a large sample of Galactic PNe. This effort leads to identification of 39 PNe, whose central stars exhibit periodic variation in light curves. Among these objects, 20 are known binary central stars of PNe, while the remaining 19 are new discoveries. Additionally, we identified 14 PNe with central stars displaying anomalous variation in light curves, as well as eight variables based on the high-cadence photometric data. Among the new discoveries of periodicity, we found compelling evidence of binary systems at the centres of two archetypal quadrupolar PNe. We also report on very peculiar brightness variation observed in the central core of the compact PN NGC6833. Several PNe in our sample deserve follow-up observations, both high-dispersion spectroscopy and high-precision photometry, to reveal the true nature of their central binarity or even multiplicity.