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Draft version November 8, 2018 Preprint typeset using L A T E X style emulateapj v. 01/23/15 THE CLASS OF JSOLATED STARS AND LUMINOUS PLANETARY NEBULAE IN OLD STELLAR POPULATIONS Efrat Sabach 1 & Noam Soker 1,2 Draft version November 8, 2018 ABSTRACT We suggest that stars whose angular momentum (J) does not increase by a companion, star or planet, along their post-main sequence evolution have much lower mass loss rates along their giant branches. Their classification to a separate group can bring insight on their late evolution stages. We here term these Jsolated stars. We argue that the mass loss rate of Jsolated stars is poorly determined because the mass loss rate expressions on the giant branches are empirically based on samples containing stars that experience strong binary interaction, with stellar or sub-stellar companions, e.g., planetary nebula (PN) progenitors. We use our earlier claim for a low mass loss rate of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars that are not spun-up by a stellar or substellar companion to show that we can account for the enigmatic finding that the brightest PNe in old stellar populations reach the same luminosity as the brightest PNe in young populations. It is quite likely that the best solution to the existence of bright PNe in old stellar populations is the combination of higher AGB luminosities, as obtained in some new stellar models, and the lower mass loss rates invoked here. 1. INTRODUCTION Detailed observations over the years have strengthened the notion that the mass loss process of evolved stars is highly variable. Examples include the huge mass loss rate of luminous blue variable (LBV) stars that experience major eruptions, such as η Carinae (e.g., Smith & Owocki 2006), pre-outbursts of some core collapse supernovae (CCSNe; e.g., Mauerhan et al. 2014; Graham et al. 2014; Svirski & Nakar 2014; Tartaglia et al. 2016; Ofek et al. 2016), and the dense shells and lobes of many planetary nebulae (PNe), as evident from hundreds of images (e.g., Balick 1987; Chu et al. 1987; Corradi & Schwarz 1995; Manchado et al. 1996; Sahai & Trauger 1998; Parker et al. 2016). To those we can add the three-rings around the progenitor of SN 1987A (Burrows et al. 1995), and similar blue stars such as SBW1 (Smith et al. 2013), as well as progenitors of stripped CCSNe, such as SN Ib (e.g., Kangas et al. 2017). An interacting stellar companion can deposit energy and angular momentum to the primary mass-losing star. Interaction with stellar companions outside the envelope of the primary star, mainly by tidal spin-up, suggests that in many cases angular momentum plays a larger role in increasing the mass loss rate than energy de- position does (Soker 2004). Evolved red giant branch (RGB) and asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars can acquire a large amount of angular momentum by swal- lowing planets (e.g., Soker 1996; Carlberg et al. 2009; Villaver & Livio 2009; Mustill & Villaver 2012; Nord- haus & Spiegel 2013; Garc´ ıa-Segura et al. 2014; Staff et al. 2016; Aguilera-G´ omez et al. 2016). In those cases de- position of angular momentum is more significant than deposition of energy, e.g., for the operation of a dynamo in the envelope of the giant star (e.g., Nordhaus & Black- 1 Department of Physics, Technion – Israel Institute of Tech- nology, Haifa 32000, Israel; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] 2 Guangdong Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Shan- tou, Guangdong Province, China man 2006). Stars whose angular momentum J does not increase in their post-main sequence evolution experience a different mass loss history than those that suffer inter- action with stars, brown dwarfs, and planets. A star that along its entire evolution does not acquire angular momentum from a stellar companion or a sub- stellar companion, or that the angular momentum it ac- quires J dep is less than a fraction β j of the maximum value it can have on the main sequence J MS,max , is here termed a J isolated star, or Jsolated star, J dep β j J MS,max for a Jsolated star 3 . (1) At this point there is no accurate theory for the mass loss rate of red giant stars, and we cannot determine the exact value of β J . In this preliminary study of the properties of Jsolated stars, we take a crude estimate of β J 0.1 - 1. In any case, the exact value of β J has no real influence on the conclusions reached in this study. A large fraction of stars with zero-age main sequence mass of M ZAMS > 1M are in close binary systems, or harbour planetary systems (e.g., Bowler et al. 2010). These are sufficient to account for observed PNe (De Marco & Soker 2011), as it seems that most PNe result from binary interaction (De Marco & Moe 2005; Soker & Subag 2005; Moe & De Marco 2006). Namely, Jsolated stars form no PNe, or at most they form spherical and very faint PNe (also termed hidden PNe). When massive stars are considered, the fraction of stars that will experi- ence post-main sequence interaction increases (e.g., Moe & Di Stefano 2015). This implies that the fraction of Jso- lated stars steeply decreases with increasing initial stellar mass. The above considerations and the list of evolved stars that result from binary interaction suggest that as much 3 We define the maximum angular momentum on the main sequence to be the value such that the star does not reach its break-up angular velocity, ω b =(GM/R 3 ) 1/2 , where M and R are the mass and radius of the star, under the assumption that it maintains its spherical structure, J MS,max = ω b I MS , where I MS is the moment of inertia of the (spherical) star. arXiv:1704.05395v3 [astro-ph.SR] 22 Jun 2018

Jsolated stars arXiv:1704.05395v3 [astro-ph.SR] 22 Jun 2018well as progenitors of stripped CCSNe, such as SN Ib (e.g., Kangas et al. 2017). An interacting stellar companion can deposit

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Page 1: Jsolated stars arXiv:1704.05395v3 [astro-ph.SR] 22 Jun 2018well as progenitors of stripped CCSNe, such as SN Ib (e.g., Kangas et al. 2017). An interacting stellar companion can deposit

Draft version November 8, 2018Preprint typeset using LATEX style emulateapj v. 01/23/15

THE CLASS OF JSOLATED STARS AND LUMINOUS PLANETARY NEBULAE IN OLD STELLARPOPULATIONS

Efrat Sabach1 & Noam Soker1,2

Draft version November 8, 2018

ABSTRACT

We suggest that stars whose angular momentum (J) does not increase by a companion, star or planet,along their post-main sequence evolution have much lower mass loss rates along their giant branches.Their classification to a separate group can bring insight on their late evolution stages. We here termthese Jsolated stars. We argue that the mass loss rate of Jsolated stars is poorly determined becausethe mass loss rate expressions on the giant branches are empirically based on samples containingstars that experience strong binary interaction, with stellar or sub-stellar companions, e.g., planetarynebula (PN) progenitors. We use our earlier claim for a low mass loss rate of asymptotic giant branch(AGB) stars that are not spun-up by a stellar or substellar companion to show that we can accountfor the enigmatic finding that the brightest PNe in old stellar populations reach the same luminosityas the brightest PNe in young populations. It is quite likely that the best solution to the existence ofbright PNe in old stellar populations is the combination of higher AGB luminosities, as obtained insome new stellar models, and the lower mass loss rates invoked here.

1. INTRODUCTION

Detailed observations over the years have strengthenedthe notion that the mass loss process of evolved stars ishighly variable. Examples include the huge mass loss rateof luminous blue variable (LBV) stars that experiencemajor eruptions, such as η Carinae (e.g., Smith & Owocki2006), pre-outbursts of some core collapse supernovae(CCSNe; e.g., Mauerhan et al. 2014; Graham et al. 2014;Svirski & Nakar 2014; Tartaglia et al. 2016; Ofek et al.2016), and the dense shells and lobes of many planetarynebulae (PNe), as evident from hundreds of images (e.g.,Balick 1987; Chu et al. 1987; Corradi & Schwarz 1995;Manchado et al. 1996; Sahai & Trauger 1998; Parker etal. 2016). To those we can add the three-rings aroundthe progenitor of SN 1987A (Burrows et al. 1995), andsimilar blue stars such as SBW1 (Smith et al. 2013), aswell as progenitors of stripped CCSNe, such as SN Ib(e.g., Kangas et al. 2017).

An interacting stellar companion can deposit energyand angular momentum to the primary mass-losing star.Interaction with stellar companions outside the envelopeof the primary star, mainly by tidal spin-up, suggeststhat in many cases angular momentum plays a largerrole in increasing the mass loss rate than energy de-position does (Soker 2004). Evolved red giant branch(RGB) and asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars canacquire a large amount of angular momentum by swal-lowing planets (e.g., Soker 1996; Carlberg et al. 2009;Villaver & Livio 2009; Mustill & Villaver 2012; Nord-haus & Spiegel 2013; Garcıa-Segura et al. 2014; Staff etal. 2016; Aguilera-Gomez et al. 2016). In those cases de-position of angular momentum is more significant thandeposition of energy, e.g., for the operation of a dynamoin the envelope of the giant star (e.g., Nordhaus & Black-

1 Department of Physics, Technion – Israel Institute of Tech-nology, Haifa 32000, Israel; [email protected];[email protected]; [email protected]

2 Guangdong Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Shan-tou, Guangdong Province, China

man 2006). Stars whose angular momentum J does notincrease in their post-main sequence evolution experiencea different mass loss history than those that suffer inter-action with stars, brown dwarfs, and planets.

A star that along its entire evolution does not acquireangular momentum from a stellar companion or a sub-stellar companion, or that the angular momentum it ac-quires Jdep is less than a fraction βj of the maximumvalue it can have on the main sequence JMS,max, is heretermed a J isolated star, or Jsolated star,

Jdep ≤ βjJMS,max for a Jsolated star3. (1)

At this point there is no accurate theory for the massloss rate of red giant stars, and we cannot determinethe exact value of βJ . In this preliminary study of theproperties of Jsolated stars, we take a crude estimate ofβJ ' 0.1 − 1. In any case, the exact value of βJ has noreal influence on the conclusions reached in this study.

A large fraction of stars with zero-age main sequencemass of MZAMS > 1M� are in close binary systems, orharbour planetary systems (e.g., Bowler et al. 2010).These are sufficient to account for observed PNe (DeMarco & Soker 2011), as it seems that most PNe resultfrom binary interaction (De Marco & Moe 2005; Soker &Subag 2005; Moe & De Marco 2006). Namely, Jsolatedstars form no PNe, or at most they form spherical andvery faint PNe (also termed hidden PNe). When massivestars are considered, the fraction of stars that will experi-ence post-main sequence interaction increases (e.g., Moe& Di Stefano 2015). This implies that the fraction of Jso-lated stars steeply decreases with increasing initial stellarmass.

The above considerations and the list of evolved starsthat result from binary interaction suggest that as much

3 We define the maximum angular momentum on the mainsequence to be the value such that the star does not reach itsbreak-up angular velocity, ωb = (GM/R3)1/2, where M and Rare the mass and radius of the star, under the assumption that itmaintains its spherical structure, JMS,max = ωbIMS, where IMS isthe moment of inertia of the (spherical) star.

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as our understanding of the mass loss process fromevolved interacting stars in binary (and triple) systems ispoor, our knowledge of the mass loss rate from Jsolatedstars is poorer. It should be noted that the definition ofthe Jsolated group is based on a speculation that if a staris not spun up during its post-MS evolution, its mass lossrate is much lower than the average mass loss rate ob-served. We here propose that the mass loss rate observedin evolved stars, such as progenitors of PNe, is a result ofa binary interaction. Namely, the fitting formulae of themass loss rates from RGB and AGB stars are actuallyapplicable to stars that experienced binary interaction,with stellar or sub-stellar objects, during their post-mainsequence evolution (non-Jsolated stars). We further pro-pose that the mass loss rate on the RGB and AGB ofJsolated stars is much lower than what these fitting for-mulae give. Jsolated star, and their reduced mass loss,might solve two puzzles; First is the puzzle of shapingmildly elliptical PNe, second is the puzzle of bright PNein old stellar populations.

In Sabach & Soker (2018) we have presented the ideaof a reduced mass loss and its implications on solar-typestars. We have shown that stars with a reduced mass lossrate can expand to larger radii than usually assumed,hence are much more likely to interact with planets onthe upper AGB. If a star does swallow a planet, on theupper AGB, then strictly speaking it is not a Jsolatedstar any more. This might account for many PNe thatare shaped by planets as suggested by Soker (1996). Wealso found out that such stars reach much higher lumi-nosities at the end of their AGB phase. We here setthe term Jsolated stars and further use this assumptionto study not only shaping of PNe and ejecting a densernebula, but also to address the luminosity of the centralstar. We examine the late evolution in detail, aimingto explain the intriguing puzzle of the planetary nebulaluminosity function (PNLF) (e.g., Ciardullo 2010; Ciar-dullo et al. 1989, 2005; Davis et al. 2018; Jacoby 1989;van de Steene et al. 2006).

The bright-end cutoff of the PNLF in [O III] λ 5007has no dependence on the age or metallicity of the stel-lar population, meaning that stars in old stellar popula-tions, where MZAMS ' 1 − 1.2M�, have their brightest[O III] λ 5007 PNe as in young stellar populations. Toreach such bright PNe the central star should reach lumi-nosities of ' 5000L� and higher in order to ionize sucha bright nebula. Such high luminosities are not reachedwith the traditional stellar evolution calculations. Wehere propose that the low mass loss rate of Jsolated starswith a late engulfment of a low mass companion (planet,or a brown dwarf, or a low mass star), account for thebrightest PNe in old stellar populations and might an-swer this puzzle.

There are some earlier studies that attempted to ex-plain the constant bright end of the PNLF (e.g., Richeret al. 1997). Ciardullo et al. (2005) proposed that thebrightest PNe in old stellar populations evolve from blue-stragglers, namely, two lower mass stars that merged andformed a sufficiently massive star to form a bright PN.Soker (2006a) proposed that the bright PNe are actuallysymbiotic nebulae, namely, a white dwarf companion to agiant star ionizes the nebula blown by the giant (for a de-bate on this scenario see Ciardullo 2006 and Frankowski& Soker 2009). Frankowski & Soker (2009) list these two

explanations, as well as one that considers a lower massloss rate due to low metallicity in old stellar populations(see discussion in Mendez et al. 2008). In the present pa-per we attribute the lower mass loss rate to the absenceof binary interaction until the upper AGB.

There are also numerical studies that obtained high lu-minosities along the AGB but did not address the puzzleof the constant bright end of the PNLF (e.g., Karakas2014; Miller Bertolami 2016). In a recent paper Venturaet al. (2018) simulated the evolution of stars of differentmasses. Their model of a star with an initial mass of1.25M� and a metallicity of Z = 0.014 reaches a max-imum AGB luminosity of 6530L�. This is sufficient toionize a bright PN. However, their model of a 1M� starreaches a maximum luminosity of only 3800L�, too lowto account for the brightest PNe in very old stellar popu-lations. Neither Karakas (2014) nor Ventura et al. (2018)address the PNLF puzzle, and so we cannot tell whethertheir evolutionary routes can account for the constantbright end of the PNLF. For example, in addition to highluminosities a fast evolution of the post-AGB is required.We attribute the fast post-AGB evolution of the bright-est PNe in old stellar populations to an interaction witha low mass companion (a planet, a brown dwarf, or a lowmass main sequence star). It will be interesting to usethese evolutionary tracks to examine the PNLF. How-ever, we are using the evolutionary stellar code MESA,with which we cannot reach the high luminosities theyreach, unless we reduce the mass loss rate on the giantbranches. As we will explain later, it is possible that bothapproaches, that of the new stellar evolutionary codes(e.g., Ventura et al. 2018) and a lower mass loss rate thatis followed by the engulfment of a planet, as we suggesthere, will have to be combined to obtain a satisfactoryexplanation for the constant bright end of the PNLF.

The new evolutionary calculations of Miller Bertolami(Miller Bertolami et al. 2008; Miller Bertolami 2016;Gesicki et al. 2017; Reindl et al. 2017) have been usedto address the bright end of the PNLF. Mendez (2017)shows a fit to the PNLF of NGC 4697 based on the MillerBertolami (2016) tracks, yet notes that it is not a full so-lution to the PNLF puzzle. In a very recent paper Gesickiet al. (2018) study the bright end of the PNLF. They canaccount for most cases, but not for stellar populationsolder than about 7 Gyr. Again, we suggest that the us-age of both these new stellar evolution simulations andour proposed reduced mass loss rate will solve the fullpuzzle of the bright end of the PNLF, but in the presentstudy we use the stellar evolutionary code MESA to re-veal the role of reduced mass loss.

In section 2 we elaborate on the mass loss rate. In sec-tion 3 we study the late evolution of Jsolated stars andpresent our results. In section 4 we discuss the implica-tions of our treatment of Jsolated stars, mainly regardingthe PNLF.

2. REDUCED MASS LOSS RATE

The empirical mass loss formula for red giant stars ofReimers (1975) is commonly expressed as

M = η × 4× 10−13LM−1R, (2)

where M , L and R are in solar units and have their usualmeaning, and η is the scaling parameter for the mass loss

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rate efficiency set by observational constraints. Here wedo not go into the mass loss prescription or mechanismas this is a topic of much review (e.g., Lafon & Berruyer1991; Schroder & Cuntz 2005). We only study the effectsof mass loss reduction on stellar evolution under the as-sumption that Jsolated stars experience a much lowermass loss rate than non-Jsolated stars.

We change the mass loss rate efficiency parameter ηfrom η = 0.5, as commonly taken for solar-type stars,and reduce it as low as 0.05. We point out that sev-eral works have studied the value of the mass loss ratein RGB stars, such as McDonald & Zijlstra (2015) thatfind a median value of η = 0.477 from horizontal branch(HB) morphology in globular clusters. Our claim thatif a star is not spun up during its post-MS evolution itsmass loss rate is much lower than the average value, to-gether with the values found for η, such as by McDonald& Zijlstra (2015), implies that most stars do suffer somekind of interaction on their RGB. Such interaction canbe a tidal interaction with a companion at several AUs,or a common envelope with a low mass companion. Asplanets are not expected in globular clusters, the findingof McDonald & Zijlstra (2015) might seem at first to ruleout our assumption. However the study of McDonald &Zijlstra (2015) cannot account for all observations, suchas bright PNe in old stellar populations. If Jsolated starsare a minority, then their finding does not contradict ourassumption. Miglio et al. (2012) find that the RGB massloss rate parameter might be as low as η = 0.1, i.e., lowerthan typically taken, for the old metal-rich cluster NGC6791. We differ in that we conduct a systematic com-parison, and attribute the low mass loss rate to Jsolatedstars. In light of the problem to explain some propertiesof bright PNe in old populations and the upper mass ofwhite dwarfs, we claim that our speculative definition ofJsolated stars has a merit, and so we conduct the studyto follow.

We note that our idea that planet interacts with lowmass AGB stars only on the upper AGB is compati-ble with the observations that many elliptical PNe havespherical and faint halos (e.g. Corradi et al. 2003). Assingle stars lose most of their angular momentum beforereaching the upper AGB (e.g., Soker 2006b), they willeject a faint and spherical halo. Only when interactingwith a low mass companion on the upper AGB they ter-minate their AGB with a higher mass loss rate phase andan aspherical one (e.g., Soker 2000).

3. NUMERICAL METHOD AND RESULTS

To study some effects of mass loss we conduct stellarevolution simulations using the Modules for Experimentsin Stellar Astrophysics (MESA), version 9575 (Paxton etal. 2011, 2013, 2015). We calculate stellar evolution fromzero age main sequence until the formation of a whitedwarf for four stars in the mass range of 1− 2M� whilevarying the mass loss rate, with solar metallicity of Z =0.02 (von Steiger & Zurbuchen 2016 find Z� = 0.0196).We point out that as there is an ongoing debate as to theexact value of the solar metallicity, e.g., Vagnozzi et al.(2017), we also ran our simulations for a lower metallicityof Z = 0.014 and derived similar results.

We study stellar models with four initial masses, andfor each compare the evolution with the commonly usedmass loss rate efficiency parameter to the evolution with

reduced mass loss. The typical value of the Reimers pa-rameter for solar type stars is ≈ 0.5 (e.g., Guo et al.2017). Here we treat the ”typical” evolution of Sun-likestars and specifically the mass loss mechanisms to beas taken in MESA, where the Reimers (1975) mass lossprescription is taken for the RGB and the prescription ofBloecker (1995) is taken for the AGB. We do not focus onone certain value for Jsolated stars but rather examine arange of values of η and the resulting evolution. We pos-tulate that Jsolated stars have a much lower mass lossefficiency parameter of η . 0.1.

In Figure 1 we present the evolution for the two lowermasses that are relevant to old stellar populations, withinitial masses of (a) Mi = 1M�, and (b) Mi = 1.2M�.We examined the evolution with the commonly usedmass loss rate efficiency parameter, η = 0.5, and withseveral reduced values: η = 0.35, η = 0.25, η = 0.15,η = 0.07, and η = 0.05. We present the evolution of thestellar radius in the upper panel. This is similar to ourearlier analysis in Sabach & Soker (2018) yet here we donot focus on a single value for the reduced mass loss rateof Sun-like stars, but rather examine a range of param-eters and their result. Moreover, we look at the generalcase of a Jupiter-like stellar companion rather than atspecific observed exoplanets.

In the lower panels we examine the ratio of the stellarradius R∗ to the orbital separation a of a Jupiter massplanet that has an initial (zero age main sequence) orbitalseparation of ai = 3 AU. Similar to our treatment inSabach & Soker (2018), we here calculate the evolutionof the planet’s orbital separation under the influence ofthe stellar mass loss alone, ignoring the effects of tidalinteraction. Namely, we follow the mass loss from thestar and change the orbital separation to conserve orbitalangular momentum. Large mass loss episodes take placeon the RGB and on the AGB, and in these phases theorbital separation increases. We follow the ratio R∗/a todetermine the possibility for planet engulfment. As theratio on the tip of the AGB becomes Rmax/a ' 0.5, weexpect that tidal interaction will bring a planet of massmp & MJupiter into the envelope at the tip of the AGB(Soker 1996) and will likely form an elliptical PN (DeMarco & Soker 2011). We find that already for η = 0.15planet engulfment will occur, hinting to a much morerobust result than we have obtained in our first paper(Sabach & Soker 2018).

In Figures 2-5 we present the mass, the luminosity andthe radius on the upper AGB of our four stellar models.To account for the bright end of the PNLF the low massstars must reach luminosities of & 5000L�. We presentthe two higher masses for comparison. It is apparent thatfor solar-like stars these values are not reached with thecommonly used mass loss rate parameter and with thestellar evolutionary code MESA, yet as we reduce themass loss parameter to about η = 0.15 and below theneeded values of the luminosity to account for the PNLFcut-off are reached.

We summarize the important results in Table 1. No-tice the values of the maximum AGB radius (column 3)and the maximum AGB luminosity (column 4) are ap-proximate values taken over the final AGB phase, sincethe radius and luminosity vary non-monotonically alongthe AGB. The correct values that should be used arethe values the AGB star has at the time it engulfs its

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(a) (b)

Fig. 1.— The evolution of two stellar models with initial masses of (a) Mi = 1M�, left panel, and (b) 1.2M�, right panel, calculatedwith MESA. We calculate the evolution from zero age main sequence until the formation of a white dwarf, yet the plots focus on the giantphases only. The upper panels show the stellar radius R∗. The lower panels show the ratio of the stellar radius to the separation of a Jupitermass planet, R∗/a, with an initial semi-major axis of ai = 3 AU. This calculation includes stellar mass loss but not tidal interaction. Weexamined several mass loss rate efficiency parameters, and present here the results for η = 0.5 (red), η = 0.35 (orange), η = 0.15 (blue)and η = 0.05 (magenta). The two giant phases appear as two peaks for each line (different color), the first one on the RGB and the secondone on the AGB.

low mass companion. Under our assumption the inter-action with a planet (or a brown dwarf, or a low massmain sequence star) leads to a higher mass loss rate anda rapid post-AGB evolution, both of which are requiredin addition to a high stellar luminosity for the formationof a bright PN. Since we do not follow a specific systemto determine the exact time of engulfment, we use therepresentative values on the final AGB phase.

From Figures 1 - 5 and the properties we list in Table1 we conclude the following. (1) The reduced mass lossrate we assume here for Jsolated stars, η . 0.1, bringsthe radius on the AGB to be much larger in comparisonwith non-Jsolated stars (commonly used mass loss rate).Most significant is that the AGB radius of Jsolated starsis much larger than their radius on the tip of the RGB.(2) The AGB luminosities are much larger in cases with areduced mass loss rate. (3) The final mass of the star, thebare AGB core, is larger for the reduced mass loss ratecases, explaining the much larger post-AGB luminosities.

4. DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY

In the present study we classified evolved stars thatdo not acquire much angular momentum, as expressedin eq. (1), into a class that we term Jsolated stars. Wesuggested that the average mass loss rate of Jsolated starsis much lower, by a factor of about five and more, thanthat of interacting starts, and followed the evolution offour stellar models from their zero age main sequence tothe white dwarf phase. We examined the evolution withseveral values of the mass loss rate efficiency parameter

(eq. 2), ranging from the commonly used value of η = 0.5down to η = 0.05. We presented the results in Figures1-5, and in Table 1.

We here focus on the effects of a reduced mass loss rateon the final AGB phase of low mass stars and the Plan-etary Nebula Luminosity Function (PNLF). We foundthat Jsolated stars with an initial mass of 1−2M� reachmuch larger radii on their upper AGB and much higherluminosities on their upper AGB and post-AGB phasesthan non-Jsolated stars do. The much larger radii im-plies that Jsolated stars can swallow a low mass compan-ion (either a low-mass main sequence star, or a browndwarf, or a massive planet) and by that become non-Jsolated stars. This interaction leads to the ejection of adense nebula of a mass of ≈ 0.2M�. The much brightercore then powers the bright [O III] λ5007 emission.

As evident from the fourth column of Table 1, starswith initial masses ofMi = 1M� will only reach LpAGB ≈5000L� with a very low mass loss parameter of η = 0.05,yet for the more massive cases Jsolated stars with η .0.15 reach high enough luminosities. This, together withthe interaction with a low mass companion on the upperAGB, will have the necessary ingredient for a bright PN,a dense nebula of mass & 0.2M� and a bright centralionizing star.

Some new stellar evolution calculations (e.g., Karakas2014; Miller Bertolami 2016; Ventura et al. 2018) find thepost-AGB luminosity values to be higher than in olderprevious calculations. We raise the possibility that thesecalculations together with our assumption of a very low

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5

Simulated models

Mi η RAGB LAGB Mf ξR ξL[M�] [R�] [L�] [M�]

1 0.5 122 1.8 × 103 0.528 - -1 0.35 174 2.5 × 103 0.534 1.4 1.41 0.25 199 3.0 × 103 0.540 1.6 1.71 0.15 229 3.6 × 103 0.546 1.9 2.01 0.07 272 4.4 × 103 0.554 2.2 2.41 0.05 288 4.9 × 103 0.560 2.4 2.7

1.2 0.5 199 3.0 × 103 0.540 - -1.2 0.35 230 3.6 × 103 0.545 1.2 1.21.2 0.25 234 3.7 × 103 0.549 1.2 1.21.2 0.15 280 4.7 × 103 0.559 1.4 1.61.2 0.07 313 5.4 × 103 0.567 1.6 1.81.2 0.05 324 5.8 × 103 0.572 1.6 1.9

1.5 0.5 250 4.2 × 103 0.552 - -1.5 0.35 270 4.6 × 103 0.557 1.1 1.11.5 0.25 300 5.1 × 103 0.562 1.2 1.21.5 0.15 320 5.6 × 103 0.571 1.3 1.31.5 0.07 340 6.4 × 103 0.586 1.4 1.51.5 0.05 360 6.9 × 103 0.593 1.4 1.6

2 0.5 300 5.6 × 103 0.567 - -2 0.35 320 6.0 × 103 0.573 1.1 1.12 0.25 340 6.2 × 103 0.582 1.2 1.12 0.15 380 7.0 × 103 0.595 1.3 1.22 0.07 400 8.3 × 103 0.616 1.3 1.42 0.05 420 8.8 × 103 0.627 1.4 1.6

TABLE 1Results of our evolution simulations for solar metallicity (Z = 0.02) stars: the initial mass Mi, mass loss efficiencycoefficient η according to the Reimers mass loss equation (eq.2), radius RAGB and luminosity LAGB at the last AGB

pulses, and final mass of remnant Mf . The radius and luminosity vary non-monotonically along the AGB, so the value ofRAGB and LAGB are approximate values taken during the last AGB pulses (not taking the He thermal pulses into

account). We also define the ratios of maximum AGB radii and luminosities, between the Jsolated (reduced mass lossefficiency) and non-Jsolated stars (commonly used mass loss efficiency parameter of 0.5) for each initial mass,

ξR ≡ RABG(η)RABG(0.5)

, and ξL ≡ LABG(η)LABG(0.5)

, respectively, and list them in the last two columns.

mass loss rate of Jsolated stars with late engulfment ofa very low mass companion, can account for the bright-est PNe in old stellar populations. This combination,of higher AGB luminosities from new stellar simulationsand higher luminosities from lower mass loss rates asproposed here, might actually be the most promising ex-planation to the puzzle.The fate of the Earth. In the commonly used mass

loss rate, the fate of the Earth mostly depends on thestrength of the tidal interaction between Earth and thegiant Sun. Due to the large sensitivity to tidal interaction(and even to external planets; see Veras 2016), differentstudies have reached different conclusions on the questionof whether the Sun will swallow the Earth, maybe alreadyduring its RGB peak (Schroder & Connon Smith 2008),or whether the Earth will marginally survive engulfment(e.g., Rybicki & Denis 2001). We note that the Sun is aJsolated star, or, in case it will swallow Jupiter, it will

become a non-Jsolated star only during the later stagesof its AGB phase. Whether the Sun will swallow Jupiteror not depends strongly on the poorly known strengthof the tidal interaction. In Figure 6 we present the ratioof the radius of a solar model to the orbital separationof Earth. Clearly, our assumption of a much lower massloss rate, η . 0.1, of Jsolated stars implies that Earthwill be swallowed by the Sun and will be evaporated inthe giant envelope of the Sun, about 7 billion years frompresent day. This conclusion does not depend on thetidal interaction strength.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank an anonymous referee for very helpful,detailed and thoughtful comments that improved themanuscript. We acknowledge support from the IsraelScience Foundation and a grant from the Asher SpaceResearch Institute at the Technion.

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-10 -5 0

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

1.6

M$[M

-]

Mi = 2M- 2 = 0:52 = 0:352 = 0:152 = 0:05

-10 -5 0

0

200

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-]

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2

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L$[1

03L-]

Fig. 5.— As in Figure 2 but for an Mi = 2M� star.

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Fig. 6.— The radius of the Sun (upper panel), and the ratio ofthe evolving solar radius to the orbital separation of Earth R∗/a(lower panel), under the assumption of a reduced mass loss rateefficiency parameter. The results are presented for η = 0.5 (red),η = 0.35 (orange),η = 0.25 (green), η = 0.15 (blue), η = 0.07(black), and η = 0.05 (magenta).