The Possibility of Beta Decay in the Atmospheres of Nuclei of Planetary Nebulae

Abstract

At present there is some basis for questioning the usual presentation of the nuclei of planetary nebulae as being ordinary stars. If the quantity of mass released by a star during its formation or at some stage of its evolution serves as a criterion for its not being stationary, then the nuclei of planetary nebulae are hardly the most non-stationary objects. A strong deviation from Planck’s radiation law may also serve as a criterion for non-stationarity when the deviation occurs in the far short-wave region of the spectrum in nuclei and similar objects (e.g. stars of Wolf-Rayet which are not nuclei of planetary nebulae). Finally, the existence of synchrotron radio radia-tion in some planetary nebulae must be explained by the exceptional activity of their nuclei. It would seem that the nuclei of these nebulae are suppliers if not of typical relativistic electrons then at least of electrons with high energies.