GBT24B-306

Search for OH maseres in circumbinary-disk-containing post-AGB nebulae

Abstract

There is a group of post-AGB binary stars that have Keplerian disks and slow-moving gas expanding from the rotating component.
We propose to observe ten of these circumbinary-disk-containing sources looking for OH masers. Our project is the first systematic study of this type of sources at the wavelength of 18 cm. The detection of OH masers will imply that post-AGB evolution in these objects has not progressed to the distances where this maser typically appears and that the very outer layers of these nebulae present AGB-like characteristics. The comparison of the outer layers of different types of objects in various evolutive states will shed light on the evolution followed by these sources, and investigate to what extent our objects experienced substantial winds, similar to those in AGB stars, in the past.

Investigators

Name	Institution
Ivan Gallardo Cava *	Instituto Geográfico Nacional
Teresa Huertas-Roldan	Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
Miguel Gomez-Garrido	Instituto Geográfico Nacional; Yebes, Centro Astronómico de
Javier Alcolea	Instituto Geográfico Nacional
Valentin Bujarrabal	Instituto Geográfico Nacional

* indicates the PI