Chemical abundances in Galactic planetary nebulae with Spitzer spectra

Abstract

We present new low-resolution (R~800) optical spectra of 22 Galactic PNe with Spitzer spectra. These data are combined with recent optical spectroscopic data available in the literature to construct representative samples of compact (and presumably young) Galactic disc and bulge PNe with Spitzer spectra. Attending to the nature of the dust features seen in their Spitzer spectra, Galactic disc and bulge PNe are classified according to four major dust types (oxygen chemistry or OC, carbon chemistry or CC, double chemistry or DC, featureless or F) and subtypes (amorphous and crystalline, and aliphatic and aromatic). Nebular gas abundances of He, N, O, Ne, S, Cl, and Ar, as well as plasma parameters (e.g. Ne, Te) are homogeneously derived and we study the median chemical abundances and nebular properties in Galactic disc and bulge PNe depending on their Spitzer dust types and subtypes. A comparison of the derived median abundance patterns with AGB nucleosynthesis predictions show mainly that i) DC PNe, both with amorphous and crystalline silicates, display high-metallicity (solar/supra-solar) and the highest He abundances and N/O ratios, suggesting relatively massive (~3-5 M_sun) hot bottom burning AGB stars as progenitors; ii) PNe with O-rich and C-rich unevolved dust (amorphous and aliphatic) seem to evolve from subsolar metallicity (z~0.008) and lower mass (<3 M_sun) AGB stars; iii) a few O-rich PNe and a significant fraction of C-rich PNe with more evolved dust (crystalline and aromatic, respectively) display chemical abundances similar to DC PNe, suggesting that they are related objects. A comparison of the derived nebular properties with predictions from models combining the theoretical central star evolution with a simple nebular model is also presented. Finally, a possible link between the Spitzer dust properties, chemical abundances, and evolutionary status is discussed.

Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics (45 pages, 17 figures, and 14 tables); final version (language corrected)

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