Spitzer IRS spectra of compact Galactic planetary nebulae: The link between dust, evolution, and metallicity

A sample of ~150 compact Galactic PNe has been observed with the Spitzer/IRS spectrograph to characterize their dust properties. These PNe are likely to be at the onset of the PN evolutionary phase, and are therefore ideal for probing dust evolution. The molecular emission features in these Galactic PN spectra are similar to those found in our Magellanic Cloud sample, except that we found a sizable fraction of PNe with mixed-chemistry dust which are not observed in the Clouds. We also found that the distribution among dust types depends strongly on the metallicity of the parent population, implying that the metallicity of the progenitors affects the evolution of a PN from its early stages.