The Importance of Binaries in the Formation and Evolution of Planetary Nebulae

✍ Scribed by Henri M. J. Boffin, David Jones

• Publisher: Springer International Publishing
• Year: 2019
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 123
• Series: SpringerBriefs in Astronomy
• Edition: 1st ed. 2019
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

It is now clear that a binary evolutionary pathway is responsible for a significant fraction of all planetary nebulae, with some authors even going so far as to claim that binarity may be a near requirement for the formation of an observable nebula. This has led to the requirement that textbooks most likely need to be rewritten. Building upon the review of Jones and Boffin in Nature Astronomy (2017), this Springer Brief takes a first step in this direction. It offers the first expanded presentation of all the theoretical and observational support for the importance of binarity in the formation of planetary nebulae, initially focusing on common envelope evolution but also covering wider binaries. This book emphasises the wider impact of the field, highlighting the critical role binary central stars of planetary nebulae have in understanding a plethora of astrophysical phenomena, including type Ia supernovae, chemically peculiar stars and circumbinary exoplanets.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter ....Pages i-xiv
Introduction (Henri M. J. Boffin, David Jones)....Pages 1-11
The Common Envelope Phase (Henri M. J. Boffin, David Jones)....Pages 13-26
Close-Binary Stars in Planetary Nebulae (Henri M. J. Boffin, David Jones)....Pages 27-50
Long Period Central Stars of Planetary Nebulae (Henri M. J. Boffin, David Jones)....Pages 51-60
Chemical Evidence of Mass Transfer (Henri M. J. Boffin, David Jones)....Pages 61-70
The Binary Fraction (Henri M. J. Boffin, David Jones)....Pages 71-76
Post-AGBs and Pre-planetary Nebulae (Henri M. J. Boffin, David Jones)....Pages 77-83
Binarity and the Planetary Nebula Luminosity Function (Henri M. J. Boffin, David Jones)....Pages 85-90
Conclusions and Outlook (Henri M. J. Boffin, David Jones)....Pages 91-99
Back Matter ....Pages 101-113

✦ Subjects

Physics; Astrophysics and Astroparticles; Astronomy, Observations and Techniques