Binary central stars of planetary nebulae identified with Kepler/K2

Jacoby, George H.; Hillwig, Todd C.; Jones, David; Martin, Kayla; De Marco, Orsola; Kronberger, Matthias; Hurowitz, Jonathan L.; Crocker, Alison F.; Dey, Josh
Bibliographical reference

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Advertised on:
10
2021
Number of authors
9
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
24
Refereed citations
19
Description
We present the identification of 34 likely binary central stars (CSs) of planetary nebulae (PNe) from Kepler/K2 data, seven of which show eclipses. Of these, 29 are new discoveries. Two additional CSs with more complicated variability are also presented. We examined the light curves of all 'possible', 'likely', and 'true' PNe in every Kepler/K2 campaign (0 through 19) to identify CS variability that may indicate a binary CS. For Campaigns 0, 2, 7, 15, and 16, we find 6 likely or confirmed variables among 21 PNe. Our primary effort, though, was focused on Campaign 11 which targeted a Galactic bulge field containing approximately 183 PNe, in which we identified 30 candidate variable CSs. The periods of these variables range from 2.3 h to 30 d, and based on our analysis, most are likely to be close binary star systems. We present periods and preliminary classifications (eclipsing, double degenerate, or irradiated systems) for the likely binaries based on light-curve shape. From our total sample of 204 target PNe, with a correction for incompleteness due to magnitude limits, we calculate a binary fraction of PN central stars to be 20.7 per cent for all the observed PNe, or 23.5 per cent if we limit our sample only to 'true' PNe. However, these fractions are almost certainly lower limits due to the large angular size of the Kepler pixels, which leads to reduced sensitivity in detecting variability, primarily as a result of dilution and noise from the nebula and neighbouring stars. We discuss the binary population of CSs based on these results as part of the total known sample of close binary CSs.
Related projects
Izquierda - Imagen RGB de la nebulosa de Orión y M43 obtenida filtros estrechos con la cámara WFC en el INT: H alfa (rojo), [S II] 6716+30 (verde), [O III] 5007 (azul). Derecha - Imagen en falso color de la nebulosa planetaria NGC 6778. En azul se ve la emisión en la línea de O II tomada con el filtro sintonizable azul del instrumento OSIRIS en el GTC; en verde imagen con el filtro estrecho de [O III] del Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT).
Physics of Ionized Nebulae
The research that is being carried out by the group can be condensed into two main lines: 1) Study of the structure, dynamics, physical conditions and chemical evolution of Galactic and extragalactic ionized nebulae through detailed analysis and modelization of their spectra. Investigation of chemical composition gradients along the disk of our
Jorge
García Rojas