The mysterious age invariance of the planetary nebula luminosity function bright cut-off

• Published in: Nature astronomy Vol. 2; no. 7; pp. 580 - 584
• Main Authors: Gesicki, K., Zijlstra, A. A., Miller Bertolami, M. M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01-07-2018; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 639/33/34/4126; 639/33/34/865; Astronomy; Astrophysics and Cosmology; Galaxies; Letter; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Space telescopes; Star & galaxy formation; Stars; Stars & galaxies
• ISSN: 2397-3366; 2397-3366
• DOI: 10.1038/s41550-018-0453-9

Planetary nebulae mark the end of the active life of 90% of all stars. They trace the transition from a red giant to a degenerate white dwarf. Stellar models
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predicted that only stars above approximately twice the solar mass could form a bright nebula. But the ubiquitous presence of bright planetary nebulae in old stellar populations, such as elliptical galaxies, contradicts this: such high-mass stars are not present in old systems. The planetary nebula luminosity function, and especially its bright cut-off, is almost invariant between young spiral galaxies, with high-mass stars, and old elliptical galaxies, with only low-mass stars. Here, we show that new evolutionary tracks of low-mass stars are capable of explaining in a simple manner this decades-old mystery. The agreement between the observed luminosity function and computed stellar evolution validates the latest theoretical modelling. With these models, the planetary nebula luminosity function provides a powerful diagnostic to derive star formation histories of intermediate-age stars. The new models predict that the Sun at the end of its life will also form a planetary nebula, but it will be faint.
Until recently, stellar evolution models had not been able to explain the presence of bright planetary nebulae in old stellar populations. Using the revised evolutionary tracks of Miller Bertolami (2016), it is now evident that lower-mass and longer-lived planetary nebulae can be bright.