Shaping of Planetary Nebulae by Exoplanets

Abstract

(1) Background: We investigate the hypothesis that exoplanet engulfment can help explain the observed non-spherical planetary nebula population, as a complementary shaping mechanism to the binary hypothesis. The aim is to investigate the extent to which massive planets can explain the population of non-spherical planetary nebulae; (2) Methods: This research utilises a new tool to calculate the planet-fraction of planetary nebulae progenitor stars called simsplash; (3) Results: we conclude that ∼15–30% of non-spherical planetary nebulae around single stars will have a history in which they engulfed a massive planet on the AGB; and (4) Conclusions: Engulfment of massive exoplanets may contribute significantly to the formation of non-spherical planetary nebulae around single stars, yet appears to be insufficient to explain them all.