About this Research Topic
The Sun probably will evolve into a PN at the end of its life as a star, therefore the analysis of planetary nebulae and their conditions helps to understand the future of our star and its effects on the solar system.
The main aim of this Research topic is to analyze the PNe characteristics in order to infer the recent advances relative to 1) the mechanisms of formation and evolution of the nebular shells that can be studied by analysis of kinematics of shells and hydrodynamical modelling, 2) the stellar nucleosynthesis that contaminates the star atmosphere with newly formed elements (mainly He, C and N), subsequently ejected to the ISM with the PN, 3) the abundance discrepancy factors in PNe where abundances determined through collitionally excited lines are much lower than those determined through recombination lines, 4) the contribution of PNe as distance standard candles for external galaxies, through the PNLF, 5) the chemical gradients in disk galaxies and their evolution with time, 6) the nebular evolution and its impact in the ISM, 7) the nebular evolution with time relative to the stellar evolution, 8) the relation between present and initial stellar masses, 9) the future of the Sun and the solar system when the PN state has been acquired, and many others.
The PNe subject is a very active field in the present astrophysics and each year advances are achieved by specialists which are reported in scientific papers and in regular congresses and symposia on the subject. This Research Topic welcomes a range of article-types, on themes including:
• The chemistry in PNe, do we understand it well? (The Abundance Discrepancy Factor in PNe).
• Studies of variable PNe. What can be infer about their central star variability?
• Following PNe central stars in the HR diagram: their initial-final mass relation.
• The chemical evolution of the ISM medium, how low-intermediate mass stars contribute?
• PNe as standard candles in nearby galaxies.
Keywords: Chemical Abundances, Shaping of Stellar Winds, Hydrodynamics, Stellar Evolution, Binary Interactions
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