Castro-Carrizo, A;
Bujarrabal, V;
Fong, D;
Meixner, M;
Tielens, AGGM;
Latter, WB;
Barlow, MJ;
(2001)
Low-excitation atomic gas around evolved stars: II. ISO observations of O-rich nebulae.
Astronomy & Astrophysics
, 367
(2)
pp. 674-693.
10.1051/0004-6361:20000433.
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Abstract
We have observed atomic fine-structure lines in the far-infrared (FIR) from 12 oxygen-rich evolved stars. The sample is composed of mostly proto-planetary nebulae (PPNe) and some planetary nebulae (PNe) and asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. ISO LWS and SWS observations of [O I], [C II], [N II], [Si I], [Si II], [S I], [Fe I], and [Fe II] lines were obtained. Taking into account also the sample presented by Fong et al. (Paper I) of carbon-rich evolved stars, we find that PPNe emit in these low-excitation atomic transitions only when the central star is hotter than ∼10 000 K. This result suggests that such lines predominantly arise from photodissociation regions (PDRs), and not from shocked regions. The line widths determined from our Fabry-Perot data also suggest that the FIR lines arise from relatively quiescent PDR gas, as opposed to shocked gas. Our results are in reasonable agreement with predictions from PDR emission models, allowing the estimation of the density of the emitting layers by comparison with the model results. On the other hand, the comparison with predictions of the emission from J-type and C-type shocked regions suggests that detected lines do not come from shocks. The [C II] line flux has been used to measure the mass of the low-excitation atomic component in PPNe, since this transition has been found to be a useful model-independent probe to estimate the total mass of these PDRs. The derivation of the mass formula and assumptions made are also discussed.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Low-excitation atomic gas around evolved stars: II. ISO observations of O-rich nebulae |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1051/0004-6361:20000433 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20000433 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | atomic data / stars: AGB and post-AGB / (Stars:) circumstellar matter / stars: mass-loss / (ISM:) planetary nebulae |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Physics and Astronomy |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10096032 |
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