The O II Recombination Line Abundance Problem in Planetary Nebulae

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dc.creatorGarnett, D. R.
dc.creatorDinerstein, H. L.
dc.date2001-04-09
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T01:58:10Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T01:58:10Z
dc.descriptionWe present new observations of O II recombination lines in ten bright planetary nebulae, along with spatially-resolved measurements of O II and [O III] in the Ring nebula NGC 6720, to study the discrepancy between abundances derived from O II recombination lines and those derived from collisionally-excited [O III]. We see a large range in the difference between O II- and [O III] derived abundances, from no difference up to a factor six difference. The size of this discrepancy is anti-correlated with nebular surface brightness; compact, high-surface-brightness nebulae have the smallest discrepancies. O II levels that are populated mainly by dielectronic recombination give larger abundances than other levels. Finally, our long-slit observation of the Ring nebula shows that the O II emission peaks interior to the bright shell where [O III] and H-beta are strongest. Based on the observed correlations, we propose that the strong recombination line emission in planetary nebulae is a result of enhanced dielectronic recombination in hot gas in the nebular interior, perhaps driven by a hot stellar wind.
dc.description4 pages, 4 figures, talk presented at the Seventh Texas-Mexico Conference on Astrophysics; to appear in RMxAA Conference Series. RMAA style file (included). Postscript file also available at http://ocotillo.as.arizona.edu/~dgarnett/Papers/texmex7.ps
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0104145
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0104145
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/2667
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleThe O II Recombination Line Abundance Problem in Planetary Nebulae
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