Bibcode
Brown, A. J.; Jones, D.; Boffin, Henri M. J.; Van Winckel, Hans
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 482, Issue 4, p.4951-4955
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2
2019
Citations
18
Refereed citations
14
Description
The common-envelope phase is one of the most poorly understood phases of
(binary) stellar evolution, in spite of its importance in the formation
of a wide range of astrophysical phenomena ranging from cataclysmic
variables to cosmologically important supernova Type Ia, and even
recently discovered gravitational wave producing black hole mergers. The
central star of the planetary nebula NGC 2346 has long been held as one
of the longest period post-common-envelope systems known with a
published period of approximately 16 d, however the data presented were
also consistent with much shorter periods of around 1 d (a more typical
period among the known sample of post-common-envelope binary central
stars). Here, using the modern high-stability, high-resolution
spectrograph HERMES, we conclusively show the period to, indeed, be 16 d
while also revising the surface gravity to a value typical of a subgiant
(rather than main sequence) resulting in an intrinsic luminosity
consistent with the recently published GAIA parallax distance.
Intriguingly, the implied mass for the secondary (≳3.5
M⊙) makes it, to our knowledge, the most massive
post-common-envelope secondary known, whilst also indicating that the
primary may be a post-RGB star.
Related projects
Physics of Ionized Nebulae
The research that is being carried out by the group can be condensed into two main lines: 1) Study of the structure, dynamics, physical conditions and chemical evolution of Galactic and extragalactic ionized nebulae through detailed analysis and modelization of their spectra. Investigation of chemical composition gradients along the disk of our
Jorge
García Rojas