Sources of Bipolar Outflows and Model Challenges for the Egg Nebula

Abstract

The striking features of the Egg Nebula—searchlight beams that illuminate a pair of bipolar lobes, quadrupolar outflows, and arcs imprinted on an expanding spherical envelope—have long defied a coherent explanation. Here we present images at high angular resolutions of emission from dust and dense molecular gas in the nebula. Away from the systemic velocity, the molecular gas primarily traces the walls of the bipolar lobes, where bipolar outflows collide with the envelope ejected by the progenitor AGB star. At and close to the systemic velocity, both the molecular gas and dust trace the walls of a cylindrical channel swept aside by these bipolar outflows; in addition, the dust also traces a channel orthogonal to the bipolar lobes, swept aside by the orthogonal set of bipolar outflows. Close to the center, the dense gas traces an expanding spherical shell, corresponding to a very dense final puff from the progenitor AGB star. The center of this shell lies within the channel aligned with the optical lobes but is displaced to the south of the channel orthogonal to these lobes, and it closely coincides with the illumination center of the nebula (location of post-AGB star), as well as the expansion center of the bipolar lobes. We highlight difficulties faced by models whereby a binary companion both induces arcs in the wind of the progenitor AGB star and gives rise to the quadrupolar outflows. Instead, we suggest that the addition of a second companion, thus forming a triple-star system, can naturally produce all the features seen.