Catalogue of the central stars of planetary nebulae

Abstract

Planetary nebulae represent a potential late stage of stellar evolution, however, their central stars (CSPNe) are relatively faint and, therefore, pertinent information is available for merely < 20% of the Galactic sample. Consequently, the literature was surveyed to construct a new catalogue of 620 CSPNe featuring important spectral classifications and information. The catalogue supersedes the existing iteration by 25% and includes physical parameters such as luminosity, surface gravity, temperature, magnitude estimates, and references for published spectra. The marked statistical improvement enabled the following pertinent conclusions to be determined: the H-rich/H-poor ratio is 2:1, there is a deficiency of CSPNe with types [WC 5-6], and nearly 80% of binary central stars belong to the H-rich group. The last finding suggests that evolutionary scenarios leading to the formation of binary central stars interfere with the conditions required for the formation of H-poor CSPN. Approximately 50% of the sample with derived values of log L⋆, log Teff, and log g, exhibit masses and ages consistent with single stellar evolutionary models. The implication is that single stars are indeed able to form planetary nebulae. Moreover, it is shown that H-poor CSPNe are formed by higher mass progenitors. The catalogue is available through the Vizier database.

Planetary Nebulae in Gaia EDR3: Central Star identification, properties and binarity

“…As in Paper 1, we started by gathering as many PNe as possible from the literature. Specifically, we have collected all objects catalogued as True, Likely or Possible PNe in the HASH (Hong Kong/AAO/Strasbourg/H α ) database (Parker et al 2016), which already contains almost all the objects listed in other PNe catalogues, such as those by Kerber et al (2003), Stanghellini & Haywood (2010) and Weidmann et al (2020).…”

“…In fact, we have detected only 21 objects catalogued as True PNe in Weidmann et al (2020) that are not included in HASH. If we analyse these objects, we see that they are catalogued as Symbiotic Stars, HII Regions or Ionized ISM in HASH.…”

“…As we know, the CSPNe must have a minimum temperature to be able to ionize the nebula. As can be seen in Suárez et al (2006), an A0-type star can give rise to the photoionization of hydrogen, so we can assume a minimum stellar temperature of 13 000 K for a transition stage from a preplanetary nebulae (Weidmann et al 2020) to about 25 000 K for a complete ionization of the nebula (Kwok 2000). We can use the relationship between Gaia G BP − G RP and effective temperature obtained in Andrae et al (2018) for a reference sample of stars with DR2 photometry to set an upper limit on the colour of the ionizing source to G BP − G RP = −0.2, which corresponds to a temperature of around 13 000 K (see figure 3 of Andrae et al 2018).…”

“…Recent literature entries studying the galactic PNe population includes the work of Weidmann et al (2020), who provide a catalogue of 620 PNe, analysing several parameters of CSs such as spectral types, effective temperatures and luminosities. Another study by Chornay & Walton (2020) provides a procedure for selecting Central Stars of Planetary Nebulae (CSPNe) from DR2, which has recently been updated byEDR3 .…”

Abundance Discrepancy Factors in high density planetary nebulae

“…Characteristics of analysed PNe Star classification fromWeidmann et al (2020). For Vy 1-2 it is fromLamers et al (1998).…”