Abell 41: nebular shaping by a binary central star?

Jones, D.; Lloyd, M.; Santander-García, M.; López, J. A.; Meaburn, J.; Mitchell, D. L.; O'Brien, T. J.; Pollacco, P.; Rubio-Díez, M. M.; Vaytet N. M. H.
Referencia bibliográfica

Asymmetric Planetary Nebulae 5 conference, held in Bowness-on-Windermere, U.K., 20 - 25 June 2010, A. A. Zijlstra, F. Lykou, I. McDonald, and E. Lagadec, eds. (2011) Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics

Fecha de publicación:
2011
Número de autores
10
Número de autores del IAC
1
Número de citas
0
Número de citas referidas
0
Descripción
We present the first detailed spatio-kinematical analysis and modelling of the planetary nebula Abell 41, which is known to contain the well-studied close-binary system MT Ser. This object represents an important test case in the study of the evolution of planetary nebulae with binary central stars as current evolutionary theories predict that the binary plane should be aligned perpendicular to the symmetry axis of the nebula. Longslit observations of the NII emission from Abell 41 were obtained using the Manchester Echelle Spectrometer on the 2.1-m San Pedro Mártir Telescope. These spectra, combined with deep, narrowband imagery acquired using ACAM on the William Herschel Telescope, were used to develop a spatio-kinematical model of NII emission from Abell 41. The best fitting model reveals Abell 41 to have a waisted, bipolar structure with an expansion velocity of ˜40 km/s at the waist. The symmetry axis of the model nebula is within 5° of perpendicular to the orbital plane of the central binary system. This provides strong evidence that the close-binary system, MT Ser, has directly affected the shaping of its host nebula, Abell 41.