We report the first detections of OH+ emission in planetary nebulae (PNe).
As part of an imaging and spectroscopy survey of 11 PNe in the far-IR using the
PACS and SPIRE instruments aboard the Herschel Space Observatory, we performed
a line survey in these PNe over the entire spectral range between 51 and
672μm to look for new detections. OH+ rotational emission lines at
152.99, 290.20, 308.48, and 329.77μm were detected in the spectra of three
planetary nebulae: NGC 6445, NGC 6720, and NGC 6781. Excitation temperatures
and column densities derived from these lines are in the range of 27 to 47 K
and 2×1010 to 4 ×1011 cm−2, respectively. In PNe,
the OH+ rotational line emission appears to be produced in the
photodissociation region (PDR) in these objects. The emission of OH+ is
observed only in PNe with hot central stars (Teff > 100000 K), suggesting
that high-energy photons may play a role in the OH+ formation and its line
excitation in these objects, as it seems to be the case for ultraluminous
galaxies.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures; accepted for publication in A&