Rebirth of X-ray Emission from the Born-Again Planetary Nebula A 30

The planetary nebula (PN) A30 is believed to have undergone a very late thermal pulse resulting in the ejection of knots of hydrogen-poor material. Using HST images we have detected the angular expansion of these knots and derived an age of 850+280-150 yr. To investigate the spectral and spatial properties of the soft X-ray emission detected by ROSAT, we have obtained Chandra and XMM-Newton observations of A30. The X-ray emission from A30 can be separated into two components: a point-source at the central star and diffuse emission associated with the hydrogen-poor knots and the cloverleaf structure inside the nebular shell. To help us assess the role of the current stellar wind in powering this X-ray emission, we have determined the stellar parameters of the central star of A 30 using a non-LTE model fit to its optical and UV spectrum. The spatial distribution and spectral properties of the diffuse X-ray emission is suggestive that it is generated by the post-born-again and present fast stellar winds interacting with the hydrogen-poor ejecta of the born-again event. This emission can be attributed to shock-heated plasma, as the hydrogen-poor knots are ablated by the stellar winds, under which circumstances the efficient mass-loading of the present fast stellar wind raises its density and damps its velocity to produce the observed diffuse soft X-rays. Charge transfer reactions between the ions of the stellar winds and material of the born-again ejecta has also been considered as a possible mechanism for the production of diffuse X-ray emission, and upper limits on the expected X-ray production by this mechanism have been derived. The origin of the X-ray emission from the central star of A 30 is puzzling: shocks in the present fast stellar wind and photospheric emission can be ruled out, while the development of a new, compact hot bubble confining the fast stellar wind seems implausible.Comment: 29 pages, 11 figures, 4 tables; accepted for publication by Ap

Development of a LaBr

A γ-ray spectrometer with fast-timing capabilities, constructed of LaBr3(Ce:5%) detectors, is under development for use at the future Facility for Anti-proton and Ion Research (FAIR). The physics aims of this device are to measure the half-lives of excited states in the region of ~50 ps to several ns, in exotic nuclei. Monte-Carlo simulations using the GEANT4 software package have determined the final design of this fast-timing array by calculating the full-energy peak efficiencies of several different detector geometries. The results of the simulated efficiencies for each configuration were used to calculate the timing precision. Consequently, an array of thirty six, ø3.8×5.1 cm cylindrical crystals was found to be the optimum configuration. The detectors were purchased and subsequently characterised, with each detector found to have intrinsic energy and timing resolutions of ~ 2.8 % (FWHM) and ~ 210 ps (FWHM) for the 1173 and 1332 keV decays from 60Co