Central Stars of Planetary Nebulae: New spectral classifications and catalogue

Context. There are more than 3000 true and probable known Galactic Planetary Nebulae (PNe), but only for 13% of them there is central star spectroscopic information available. Aims. To contribute to the knowledge of central stars of planetary nebulae and star evolution. Methods. We undertook a spectroscopic survey of central stars of PNe in low resolution and compiled a large list of central stars for which information was dispersed in the literature. Results. We complete a catalogue of 492 true and probable CSPN and we provide a preliminary spectral classification for 45 central star of PNe, This made it possible to update the proportion of CSPN with atmosphere poor in hydrogen with regard to the whole in at least 30% and contribute with statistical information that allow to infer the origin of H-poor stars.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figure, accepted to be published in A&A (October 24, 2010

The Spatial Orientation of Planetary Nebulae Within the Milky Way

We analyze the spatial orientation of a homogenous sample of 440 elongated Planetary Nebulae (PNe) in order to determine the orientation of their apparent major axis respect to the Milky Way plane. We present some important geometrical and statistical considerations that have been overlooked by the previous works on the subject. The global distribution of galactic position angles (GPA) of PNe is quantitatively not very different from a random distribution of orientations in the Galaxy. Nevertheless we find that there is at least one region on the sky, toward the galactic center, where a weak correlation may exist between the orientation of the major axis of some PNe and the Galactic equator, with an excess of axes with GPA$\sim 100^{\circ}$. Therefore, we confirm that ``extrinsic'' phenomena (i.e., global galactic magnetic fields, shell compression from motion relative to the Interstellar Medium) do not determine the morphology of PNe on most of the sky, with a possible exception towards the galactic center.Comment: 37 pages and 8 figures. Accepted for publication in PAS

Relative Oscillation Theory, Weighted Zeros of the Wronskian, and the Spectral Shift Function

We develop an analog of classical oscillation theory for Sturm-Liouville operators which, rather than measuring the spectrum of one single operator, measures the difference between the spectra of two different operators. This is done by replacing zeros of solutions of one operator by weighted zeros of Wronskians of solutions of two different operators. In particular, we show that a Sturm-type comparison theorem still holds in this situation and demonstrate how this can be used to investigate the finiteness of eigenvalues in essential spectral gaps. Furthermore, the connection with Krein's spectral shift function is established.Comment: 26 page

Quantum Effects for the Dirac Field in Reissner-Nordstrom-AdS Black Hole Background

The behavior of a charged massive Dirac field on a Reissner-Nordstrom-AdS black hole background is investigated. The essential self-adjointness of the Dirac Hamiltonian is studied. Then, an analysis of the discharge problem is carried out in analogy with the standard Reissner-Nordstrom black hole case.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, Iop styl

POLARIZATION TRANSFER IN ELASTIC p-d SCATTERING AT Ep=22.7 MeV

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VISTA Variables in the <i>Vía Láctea</i> (VVV): Halfway Status and Results

The VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) survey is one of six near-infrared ESO public surveys, and is now in its fourth year of observing. Although far from being complete, the VVV survey has already delivered many results, some directly connected to the intended science goals (detection of variable stars, microlensing events, new star clusters), others concerning more exotic objects, e.g., novae. Now, at the end of the fourth observing period, and comprising roughly 50% of the proposed observations, the status of the survey, as well some of results based on the VVV data, are presented.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísica

Búsqueda de regiones de baja excitación en nebulosas planetarias

Se presentan los primeros resultados de la observación con filtro de banda angosta ([NII], 6584 A) de una muestra de nebulosas planetarias australes. Las observaciones se están realizando desde la Estación Astrofísica de Bosque Alegre. Los aspectos inherentes de la observación serán tratados en detalle.Fil: Vena Valdarenas, Román Rodrigo. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Schmidt, Eduardo Osvaldo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Volpe, M. G.. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Weidmann, Walter Alfredo. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Mudrik, A.. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; Argentin

Near-infrared photometry of Galactic planetary nebulae with the VVV Survey

Context. Planetary nebulae (PNe) are powerful tracers of evolved stellar populations. Among the 3000 known PNe in the Galaxy, about 600 are located within the 520 square-degree area covered by the VVV survey. The VVV photometric catalogue provides an important new dataset for the study of PNe, with high-resolution imaging in five near-infrared bands. Aims. There are various colour-colour diagrams that can be obtained from the VVV filters. We investigate the location of PNe in these diagrams and the separation from other types of objects. This includes the new Y−J vs. Z−Y diagram. Methods. Aperture photometry of known PNe in the VVV area was retrieved from source catalogues. Care was taken to minimise any confusion with field stars. The colours of the PNe we are determined for (H−Ks), (J−H), (Z−Y), and (Y−J), and compared to stars and to other types of emission line objects. Cloudy photo-ionisation models were used to predict colours for typical PNe. Results. We present near-infrared photometry for 353 known PNe. The best separation from other objects is obtained in the (H−Ks) vs. (J−H) diagram. We calculated the emission-line contribution to the in-band flux based on a model for NGC 6720: we find that this is highest in the Z and Y bands at over 50%, lower in the J band at 40%, and lowest in the H and Ks bands at 20%. A new view of PNe in the wavelength domain of the Z and Y bands is shown. Photo-ionisation models are used to explore the observed colours in these bands. The Y band is shown to be dominated by He i 1.083 μm and He ii 1.012 μm, and colours involving this band are very sensitive to the temperature of the ionizing star. Conclusions. The VVV survey represents a unique dataset for studying crowded and obscured regions in the Galactic plane. The diagnostic diagrams presented here allow one to study the properties of known PNe and to uncover objects not previously classified.Fil: Weidmann, Walter Alfredo. Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. Observatorio Astronomico de Cordoba; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Gamen, Roberto Claudio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas. Instituto de Astrofísica la Plata; ArgentinaFil: Hoof, P. A. M. van. Royal Observatory of Belgium; BélgicaFil: Zijlstra, A.. University of Manchester; Reino UnidoFil: Minniti, Dante. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; Chile. Universidad Andres Bello; Chile. Vatican Observatory; ItaliaFil: Volpe, Maria Gabriela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomia Teórica y Experimental. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomia Teórica y Experimental; Argentin