Models of the Mass-ejection Histories of Pre-planetary Nebulae. IV. Magnetized Winds and the Origins of Jets, Bullets, and FLIERs

Authors:
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
This paper explores the influences and consequences of toroidal magnetic fields in shaping the visible lobes of pre-planetary nebulae (prePNe). To probe these influences we start with the steady, diverging, and field-free wind model of our previous papers and add weak to moderate toroidal fields to the winds in order to generate arrays of outcomes after 500 yr, after which the structures grow almost homologously. As expected, toroidal fields in the stellar winds invariably form very thin and dense axial features whose structure is best described as a thin cold jet with an ultra-dense and neutral leading knot, or bullet, at its tip. The speed of the leading knot depends only on the density contrast (the ratio of injected to ambient gas densities at the nozzle) and wind injection speed, but not on the field strength or opening angle. The lobes formed by the ram pressure of the winds take a variety of forms and sizes that depend primarily on the geometric structure of the injected gas and the density contrast. About 20% of the Hubble Space Telescope images of prePNe show unique signatures of shaping by toroidal fields. Pairs of low-ionization knots seen along the major axis of fully ionized PNe, often called FLIERs, are easily explained as the very dense, cold, and neutral remnants of magnetically formed knots.
Funding Information
  • Adam Frank (AR14563)

This publication has 51 references indexed in Scilit: