The Planetary Nebulae Luminosity Function (PNLF): current perspectives

Abstract

This paper starts with a brief historical review about the PNLF and its use as a distance indicator. Then the PNLF distances are compared with Surface Brightness Fluctuations (SBF) distances and Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB) distances. A Monte Carlo method to generate simulated PNLFs is described, leading to the last subject: recent progress in reproducing the expected maximum final mass in old stellar populations, a stellar astrophysics enigma that has been challenging us for quite some time.

4 pages, 2 figures; to appear in Proceedings of IAU Symposium 323 (Planetary Nebulae: Multi-Wavelength Probes of Stellar and Galactic Evolution), eds. Xiaowei Liu, Letizia Stanghellini, & Amanda Karakas

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Cited by in corpus (3)

• New Candidate Planetary Nebulae in Galactic Globular Clusters from the VVV Survey
• A study of extragalactic planetary nebulae populations based on spectroscopy. I. Data compilation and first findings
• A Mystery in Chamaeleon: Serendipitous Discovery of a Galactic Symbiotic Nova