Polarisation properties of OH emission in planetary nebulae

Jose F. Gomez, Lucero Uscanga, James A. Green, Luis F. Miranda, Olga Suarez, Philippe Bendjoya

Published 2016-06-22Version 1

We present the interferometric, full-polarisation observations of the four ground-state transitions of OH, toward five confirmed and one candidate OH-emitting planetary nebulae (OHPNe). OHPNe are believed to be very young PNe, and information on their magnetic fields (provided by their polarisation) could be key to understand the early evolution of PNe. We detect significant circular and linear polarisation in four and two objects, respectively. Possible Zeeman pairs are seen in JaSt 23 and IRAS 17393-2727, resulting in estimates of magnetic field strengths between 0.8 and 24 mG. We also report the new detection of OH emission at 1720 MHz toward Vy 2-2, making it the third known PN with this type of emission. We suggest that younger PNe have spectra dominated by narrow maser features and higher degrees of polarisation. Shock-excited emission at 1720 MHz seems to be more common in PNe than in early evolutionary phases, and could be related to equatorial ejections during the early PN phase.