Very Late Thermal Pulses Influenced by Accretion in Planetary Nebulae

Abstract

We consider the possibility that a mass of ~10^{-5}-10^{-3} Msun flows back from the dense shell of planetary nebulae and is accreted by the central star during the planetary nebula phase. This backflowing mass is expected to have a significant specific angular momentum even in (rare) spherical planetary nebulae, such that a transient accretion disk might be formed. This mass might influence the occurrence and properties of a very late thermal pulse (VLTP), and might even trigger it. For example, the rapidly rotating outer layer, and the disk if still exist, might lead to axisymmetrical mass ejection by the VLTP. Unstable burning of accreted hydrogen might result in a mild flash of the hydrogen shell, also accompanied by axisymmetrical ejection.

arXiv commentSubmitted to New Astronomy

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Binarity and the abundance discrepancy problem in planetary nebulae
• The Chandra Planetary Nebulae Survey (ChanPlaNS): III. X-ray Emission from the Central Stars of Planetary Nebulae
• Diffuse X-ray Emissions from Dynamic Planetary Nebulae
• Comparing shocks in planetary nebulae with the solar wind termination shock
• The Creation of AGB Fallback Shells