Destruction of Brown Dwarfs and Jet Formation in Planetary Nebulae
Abstract
I propose that the destruction of brown dwarfs and massive planets inside the envelopes of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars can lead to the formation of jets and ansae in elliptical planetary nebulae. When at ∼1 Rsun from the AGB progenitors' cores, these very low mass secondaries overflow their Roche lobes. Thick disks with jets on their two sides are a plausible outcome of this process. The process is likely to occur at late stages of the AGB, and the jets push their way out of the envelopes in the course of a number of years. The Roche lobe overflow continues for several hundred years and destroys the secondaries. This scenario predicts that the ansae material will be contaminated by two sources. One source is the AGB cores, from which material can be mixed into the jets; the other consists of the destroyed secondaries.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- September 1996
- DOI:
- 10.1086/177733
- Bibcode:
- 1996ApJ...468..774S
- Keywords:
-
- STARS: BINARIES: CLOSE;
- ISM: JETS AND OUTFLOWS;
- ISM: PLANETARY NEBULAE: GENERAL;
- STARS: AGB AND POST-AGB;
- STARS: LOW-MASS;
- BROWN DWARFS;
- STARS: MASS LOSS