arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Miriam Peña.
High resolution spectroscopic data of a large sample of galactic planetary nebulae with [WC] central stars ([WC]PNe) are analyzed to determine their kinematical behavior. Their heliocentric velocities have been determined with a precision better than a few km/s. Distances obtained from the literature are used to derive the peculiar velocities of the objects.
We present preliminary results obtained from the analysis of very deep echelle spectra of a dozen planetary nebulae with [WC] or weak emission lines (wels) central stars. The computed abundance discrepancy factors (ADFs) are moderate, with values lower than 4. In principle, no evidence of the H-poor metal enriched inclusions proposed by Liu et al. (2000) have been found. However, a detailed analysis of the data is in progress.
Chemical evolution models are useful for understanding the formation and evolution of stars and galaxies. Model predictions will be more robust as more observational constraints are used. We present chemical evolution models for the dwarf irregular galaxy NGC 6822 using chemical abundances of old and young Planetary Nebulae (PNe) and \ion{H}{ii} regions as observational constraints. Two sets of chemical abundances, one derived from collisionally excited lines (CELs) and one, from recombination lines (RLs), are used. We try to use our models as a tool to discriminate between both procedures for abundance determinations. In our chemical evolution code, the chemical contribution of low and intermediate mass stars is time delayed, while for the massive stars the chemical contribution follows the instantaneous recycling approximation. Our models have two main free parameters: the mass-loss rate of a well-mixed outflow and the upper mass limit, $M_{up}$, of the initial mass function (IMF). To reproduce the gaseous mass and the present-day O/H value we need to vary the outflow rate and the $M_{up}$ value.
We aim to derive the chemical behavior of a significant sample of PNe and HII regions in the irregular galaxy NGC 6822 The selected objects are distributed in different zones of the galaxy. Due to the faintness of PNe and HII regions in NGC 6822, to gather spectroscopic data with large telescopes is necessary. We obtained a well suited sample of spectra by employing VLT-FORS 2 and Gemini-GMOS spectrographs. Ionic and total abundances are calculated for the objects where electron temperatures can be determined through the detection of [OIII] λ4363 or/and [NII] λ5755 lines. A "simple" chemical evolution model has been developed and the observed data are used to compute a model for NGC 6822 in order to infer a preliminary chemical history in this galaxy. Confident determinations of He, O, N, Ne, S and Ar abundances were derived for a sample of 11 PNe and one HII region. We confirm that the present ISM is chemically homogeneous, at least in the central 2 kpc of the galaxy, showing a value 12+log O/H = 8.06$\pm$0.04. From the abundance pattern of PNe, we identified two populations: a group of young PNe with abundances similar to HII regions and a group of older objects with abundances a factor of two lower. A couple of extreme Type I PNe were found. No third dredge-up O enrichement was detected in PNe of this galaxy. The abundance determinations allow us to discuss the chemical behavior of the present and past ISM in NGC 6822. Our preliminary chemical evolution model predicts that an important gas-mass lost occurred during the first 5.3 Gyr, that no star higher than 40 M$_\odot$ was formed, and that 1% of all 3-15 M$_\odot$ stars became binary systems progenitors to SNIa.
We present spatially resolved high-resolution spectrophotometric data for the planetary nebulae PB8, NGC2867, and PB6. We have analyzed two knots in NGC2867 and PB6 and one in PB8. The three nebulae are ionized by [WC] type nuclei: early [WO] for PB6 and NGC2867 and [WC 5-6] in the case of PB8. Our aim is to study the behavior of the abundance discrepancy problem (ADF) in this type of PNe. We measured a large number of optical recombination (ORL) and collisionally excited lines (CEL), from different ionization stages (many more than in any previous work), thus, we were able to derive physical conditions from many different diagnostic procedures. We determined ionic abundances from the available collisionally excited lines and recombination lines. Based on both sets of ionic abundances, we derived total chemical abundances in the nebulae using suitable ionization correction factors. From CELs, we have found abundances typical of Galactic disk planetary nebulae. Moderate ADF(O++) were found for PB8 (2.57) and NGC2867 (1.63). For NGC2867, abundances from ORLs are higher but still consistent with Galactic disk planetary nebulae. On the contrary, PB8 presents a very high O/H ratio from ORLs. A high C/O was obtained from ORLs for NGC2867; this ratio is similar to C/O obtained from CELs and with the chemical composition of the wind of the central star, indicating that there was no further C-enrichment in the star, relative to O, after the nebular material ejection. On the contrary, we found C/O<1 in PB8. Interestingly, we obtain (C/O)ORLs/(C/O)CELs < 1 in PB8 and NGC2867; this added to the similarity between the heliocentric velocities measured in [OIII] and OII lines for our three objects, argue against the presence of H-deficient metal-rich knots coming from a late thermal pulse event.
We present X-ray observations of the close binary nucleus of the planetary nebula SBS 1150+599A obtained with the XMM-Newton satellite. Only one component of the binary can be observed in optical-UV. New X-ray observations show that the previously invisible component is a very hot compact star. This finding allows us to deduce rough values for the basic parameters of the binary. With a high probability the total mass of the system exceeds Chandrasekhar limit and makes the SBS 1150+599A one of the best candidate for a supernova type Ia progenitor.
We present and discuss the latest addition of the Montreal Blue Galaxy (MBG) survey. Inspection of 59 Curtis Schmidt plates resulted in the identification of 135 new UV-bright galaxies with B < 15.5. This brings the total number of MBGs to 469. New results of the $V/V_m$ test show that our survey is complete to B = 14.7. From our most recent spectroscopic follow-up, we confirm the discovery of one new Seyfert 1 galaxy and possibly one new Seyfert 2 galaxy. We confirm also the bias of the MBG survey towards the low-excitation and metal rich Starburst Nucleus Galaxies (SBNGs). The spectral characteristics of the MBGs are similar to those of the infrared luminous IRAS galaxies. As a common characteristic, they show a mean ratio Log([NII]/H$α$) in excess of 0.2 dex as compared to normal disk HII regions. In general, the MBGs have lower far-infrared luminosities ($L_{IR} < 10^{11} L_{\odot}$) and are nearer (z < 0.05) than the luminous IRAS galaxies. The distribution of the morphologies of the MBGs indicates a high number of early-type spirals (Sb and earlier). Nearly half of these galaxies also possess a bar. In our sample, the fraction of galaxies with bars depends on the morphology and increases towards the late-type spirals. However, if we consider only isolated galaxies, the late-type spirals show a clear tendency to be barred. Signs of a recent interaction with neighbor galaxies are obvious only in 24% of our candidates. Although this number is only a lower limit, it is nevertheless sufficiently low to suggest that in a majority of massive galaxies the burst of star formation do not depends solely on dynamical processes.