David Jones, Amy A. Tyndall, Leo Huckvale, Barnabas Prouse, Myfanwy Lloyd
It is widely believed that central star binarity plays an important role in
the formation and evolution of aspherical planetary nebulae, however
observational support for this hypothesis is lacking. Here, we present the most
recent results of a continuing programme to model the morphologies of all
planetary nebulae known to host a close binary central star. Initially, this
programme allows us to compare the inclination of the nebular symmetry axis to
that of the binary plane, testing the theoretical expectation that they will
lie perpendicular - to date, all have satisfied this expectation, indicating
that each nebula has been shaped by its central binary star. As a greater
sample of nebulae are modelled, it will be possible to search for trends
connecting the parameters of both nebula and central binary, strengthening our
understanding of the processes at work in these objects. I will discuss some of
the more obvious comparisons, and their current statuses, as well as the
obvious links to common envelope evolution.
View original:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1106.1102
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