2015/07/28 by Brent Miszalski, B. Miszalski, R. Manick +6
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #FOS: Physical sciences #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) #Space Exploration and Technology #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph.SR
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1507.07705
To appear in conference proceedings of the International Workshop on Wolf-Rayet Stars. 3 pages, 1 figure
arxiv created 2015/07/28 · openalex publication_date 2015/07/28 · arxiv updated 2015/07/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Nearly 50 post-common-envelope (post-CE) close binary central stars of planetary nebulae (CSPNe) are now known. Most contain either main sequence or white dwarf (WD) companions that orbit the WD primary in around 0.1-1.0 days. Only PN~G222.8-04.2 and NGC~5189 have post-CE CSPNe with a Wolf-Rayet star primary (denoted [WR]), the low-mass analogues of massive Wolf-Rayet stars. It is not well understood how H-deficient [WR] CSPNe form, even though they are relatively common, appearing in over 100 PNe. The discovery and characterisation of post-CE [WR] CSPNe is essential to determine whether proposed binary formation scenarios are feasible to explain this enigmatic class of stars. The existence of post-CE [WR] binaries alone suggests binary mergers are not necessarily a pathway to form [WR] stars. Here we give an overview of the initial results of a radial velocity monitoring programme of [WR] CSPNe to search for new binaries. We discuss the motivation for the survey and the associated strong selection effects. The mass functions determined for PN~G222.8-04.2 and NGC~5189, together with literature photometric variability data of other [WR] CSPNe, suggest that of the post-CE [WR] CSPNe yet to be found, most will have WD or subdwarf O/B-type companions in wider orbits than typical post-CE CSPNe (several days or months c.f. less than a day).