The Rapidly Evolving Asymptotic Giant Branch Star, v Hya: ALMA Finds a Multiring Circus with High-velocity Outflows

Abstract

We have observed the mass-losing carbon star V Hya that is apparently transitioning from an asymptotic giant branch star to a bipolar planetary nebula, at an unprecedented angular resolution of ∼1/40.″4-0.″6 with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. Our 13CO and 12CO (J = 3-2 and J = 2-1) images have led to the discovery of a remarkable set of six expanding rings within a flared, warped disk structure undergoing dynamical expansion (DUDE) that lies in the system's equatorial plane. We also find, for the first time, several bipolar, high-velocity outflows, some of which have parabolic morphologies, implying wide-opening angles, while one (found previously) is clumpy and highly collimated. The latter is likely associated with the high-velocity bullet-like ejections of ionized gas from V Hya; a possible molecular counterpart to the oldest of the four bullets can be seen in the 12CO images. We find a bright, unresolved central source of continuum emission (FWHM size <∼165 au); about 40% of this emission can be produced in a standard radio photosphere, while the remaining 60% is likely due to thermal emission from very large (millimeter-sized) grains, having mass >∼310-5 M ∼. We have used a radiative transfer model to fit the salient characteristics of the DUDE's 13CO and 12CO emission out to a radius of 8″ (3200 au) with a flared disk of mass 1.7 × 10-3 M ∼, whose expansion velocity increases very rapidly with the radius inside a central region of size ∼1/4200 au, and then more slowly outside it, from 9.5 to 11.5 km s-1. The DUDE's underlying density decreases radially, interspersed with local increases that represent the observationally well-characterized innermost three rings. © 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.