Proto–Planetary Nebulae as Explosions: Bullets versus Jets and Nebular Shaping

Abstract

Many proto-planetary nebulae (PPN) appear as narrow collimated structures sometimes showing multiple, roughly aligned lobes. In addition, many PPN flows have been shown to have short acceleration times. In this paper we explore whether jet or ``bullet'' (a massive clump) models fit the observations of individual collimated lobes adequately by comparing simulations of both radiatively cooled (stable) jets and bullets. We find that the clump model is somewhat favored over jets because (1) it leads to greater collimation of outflows (2) it accounts better and more naturally for ring-like structures observed in the PPN CRL 618, and (3) it is more successful in reproducing the Hubble-flow character of observed kinematics in some PPN. In addition, bullets naturally account for observed multipolar flows, since the likely MHD launch mechanisms required to drive outflows make multiple non-aligned jets unlikely. Thus we argue that PPN outflows may be driven by explosive MHD launch mechanisms such as those discussed in the context of supernovae (SNe) and gamma-ray bursts(GRB).