Chemical abundances for Hf 2-2, a planetary nebula with the strongest-known heavy-element recombination lines |
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Authors: | X-W Liu M J Barlow Y Zhang R J Bastin P J Storey |
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Institution: | Department of Astronomy, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China;Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT |
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Abstract: | We present high-quality optical spectroscopic observations of the planetary nebula (PN) Hf 2-2. The spectrum exhibits many prominent optical recombination lines (ORLs) from heavy-element ions. Analysis of the H i and He i recombination spectrum yields an electron temperature of ~900 K, a factor of 10 lower than given by the collisionally excited O iii ] forbidden lines. The ionic abundances of heavy elements relative to hydrogen derived from ORLs are about a factor of 70 higher than those deduced from collisionally excited lines (CELs) from the same ions, the largest abundance discrepancy factor (adf) ever measured for a PN. By comparing the observed O ii λ4089/λ4649 ORL ratio to theoretical value as a function of electron temperature, we show that the O ii ORLs arise from ionized regions with an electron temperature of only ~630 K. The current observations thus provide the strongest evidence that the nebula contains another previously unknown component of cold, high-metallicity gas, which is too cool to excite any significant optical or ultraviolet CELs and is thus invisible via such lines. The existence of such a plasma component in PNe provides a natural solution to the long-standing dichotomy between nebular plasma diagnostics and abundance determinations using CELs on the one hand and ORLs on the other. |
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Keywords: | ISM: abundances planetary nebulae: individual: Hf 2-2 |
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