Délivrée par l'Université Montpellier II en Cotutelle avec Macquarie University Préparée au sein de l'école doctorale I2S∗ Et de l'unité de recherche UMR 5024 Spécialité: Astrophysique Stellaire Présentée par Dimitri Douchin Estimation de la Fraction Binaire de Nébuleuses Planétaires Soutenue le 26/09/2014 devant le jury composé de : Mme Orsola De Marco Professeur Ass. Macquarie Univ. Directeur de thèse M. Gérard Jasniewicz Astronome Univ. Montpellier II Directeur de thèse Mme Griet Van De Steene Astronome Royal Observatory Rapporteur M. Ryszard Szczerba Professeur Copernicus Astron. Institute Rapporteur Mme Agnès Lèbre Astronome Univ. Montpellier II Examinateur M. Quentin Parker Professeur Macquarie Univ. Examinateur La vaste majorité des nébuleuses planétaires présente des formes non- sphériques inattendues. Nous testons si la présence d'un compagnon orbitant leurs noyaux, une explication possible pour les morpholo- gies observées, constitue un canal privilégié pour la formation de ces nébuleuses. ∗ I2S : École doctorale Information Structures Systèmes Estimating the Binary Fraction of Central Stars of Planetary Nebulae By Dimitri Douchin A phd thesis submitted to Macquarie University in Cotutelle with Universite´ de Montpellier 2 Department of Physics And Astronomy November 2014 Examiner's Copy ii c Dimitri Douchin, 2014. Typeset in LATEX 2". iii Except where acknowledged in the customary manner, the material presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge, original and has not been submitted in whole or part for a degree in any university. Dimitri Douchin iv Crossing a sea \When I speak of crossing a sea I am talking of both a body of water and various situations in your life. Be it a hundred miles of choppy water or a turbulent time in your life, the spirit of the conqueror is the same. There come many times in life when a person must set sail and chart out his own path, even if his companions remain safely ashore. At this time you should learn your route, know your vessel, and watch for the best season. Learn the dangers and face the fears. Ride the wind as long as you can, but if the wind stops and conditions become unfavorable, be ready to take the oar in hand and force your way to the port. To be successful in life one must have the same spirit. Many obstacles will arise and many opponents will come against you, but do not be detoured. Make up your mind, be decisive, trust your intuition and follow your spirit. Trust the experience of others, but do not let them cause you to doubt your intuition. In martial arts and in strategy, this analogy is important. Know your opponent like a sea captain knows the ford. Learn his strengths and weaknesses. Know the best plan of attack and never relent. Do not be distracted. Do not be dissuaded. Have a resolute spirit in everything you do. Attack the opponent's weak points. Always seek the position of advantage and never stop until you win. Once you have achieved your goal you may rest." { Miyamoto Musachi, The Book Of Five Rings Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor Orsola De Marco for the time and energy she has dedicated to this project, first on her own and then with me at her side. I am grateful for the constant support you have given me all along this project. Thank you also for being the friend you are. I thank my Cotutelle supervisor G´erard Jasniewicz with all my heart for his kind supervision and his expertise. I look forward to our future adventures on Maya territory. I would also like thank my secondary supervisor Quentin Parker for his support and more generally for leading the MQAAASTRO Research Centre the way he does to make it what it is today: a well-renown, creative, dynamic pole for research in PN science. I wish to the MQAAASTRO Centre that it continues to prosper the way I have seen it grow in my little lifespan here. I would like to address special thanks to David Frew without whom this project could not have been completed. His amazing knowledge of the local sample of PNe has been an example. Thank you for your support and directions, and for having shared with me your sense of scientific integrity as well as your sense of humanity. I would like to thank the MQAAASTRO PhD & post-doc team: Christina Mar- tina Baldwin, Rozenne Boissay, Tiffany Day, Danica Dravskovic, Elaina Hyde, Sophia Id Salah, Rajika Kuruwita, Geraline Marien, Corinne McDonnell, Stacey Rouge Newbolt-Bright, Isabella Isu´ska Spaleniak, Carlos Bacigalupo, Joao Bento, Pandey Birendra, Ivan Bojiciˇ c´, Nick Cvetojevic, Ashkbiz Danehkar, v vi Acknowledgements Kyle DePew, Tobias Feger, Pablo Galaviz, Brint Jones Gardner, Greg Gold- stein, Roberto the Billhook Iaconi, Andrew Lehmann, Daniel Maccer MacDon- ald, Niyas MC Madappattu, Arik Jones Mitschang, Colin Navin, Nem Ne- manovic, Glenn Rees, Aaron Rizzutto, Jan Staff, Travis Stenborg, James Tocknell and Shane Vickers, and academics Mike Ireland, Richard McDermid, Lee Spitler, Mark Wardle and Daniel Zucker. I also thank the LUPM PhD & post-doc team: Rana Ezzeddine, Johanna Itam, Louis Amard, Nicolas Fabas, Pierre Ghesquiere` , Anthony Herve´, Julien Lam- bert, and academics: Agn`es Lebre` , Ana Palacios, Dahbia Talbi, Eric´ Josselin, Fabrice Martins, Nicolas Mauron, Bertrand Plez, Denis Puy, Henri Reboul, Olivier Richard and Yohann Scribano. I thank the administrative staff of both universities, in particular Carol McNaught and Carole Prevot´ . Thank you to all the colleagues I have had the chance to meet during my multiple travels to observatories and conferences: Liz Guzman, Di Harmer, Shazrene Mo- hamed, Carolina Moura Carneiro, Adrien Pa'pondieu Guerou´ , Jeff Clayton, Todd Hillwig, George Jacoby, Dave Jones, Eric Lagadec, Brent Miszalski and Noam Soker. A star shines for Olivier Chesneau. Thank you to my eternal inspirations in astronomy Herv´e Dole, Mathieu Langer and Phil Yock. I thank my examiners for taking the time to assess this thesis. Thank you to Sa Bom Nim Anne Mouland-Claassens, Kwang Jang Nim Ron Claassens and all the team of the Empower Dojang, Sensei Dean Whittle and all the team of Ninjutsu Sydney, Jean-Yves Cassan and all the team of Montpellier Dojo and Celsinho Lopes Dos Santos and all the team of Renascer De Minas. Thank you Caroline Pany Boulom for making every day of my life extraordinary. Abstract Planetary nebulae are the end-products of intermediate-mass stars evolution, following a phase of spherical expansion of their atmospheres at the end of their lives. Obser- vationally, it has been estimated that 80% of them have non-spherical shapes. Such a high fraction is puzzling and has occupied the planetary nebula community for more than 30 years. One scenario that would allow to justify the observed shapes is that a comparable fraction of the progenitors of central stars of planetary nebula (CSPN) are not single, but possess a companion. The shape of the nebulae would then be the result of an interaction with this companion. The high fraction of non-spherical planetary nebulae would thus imply a high fraction of binary central stars of planetary nebula, making binarity a preferred channel for planetary nebula formation. After presenting the current state of knowledge regarding planetary nebula formation and shaping and reviewing the diverse efforts to find binaries in planetary nebulae, I present my work to detect a near-infrared excess that would be the signature of the presence of cool companions. The first part of the project consists in the analysis of data and photom- etry acquired and conducted by myself. The second part details an attempt to make use of archived datasets: the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 optical survey and the extended database assembled by Frew (2008). I also present results from a radial velocity analysis of VLT/UVES spectra for 14 objects aiming to the detection of spectroscopic companions. Finally I give details of the analysis of optical photometry data from our observations associated to the detection of companions around centrals star of planetary nebula using the photometric variability technique. The main result of this thesis is from the near-infrared excess studies which I combine with previously- published data. I conclude that if the detected red and NIR flux excess is indicative of vii viii Abstract a stellar companion then the binary fraction is larger than what we may expect based on the main-sequence progenitor population binary fraction and therefore conclude that binarity is a preferential channel for the formation of planetary nebula. I finish by underlining the need for a sample size of 150 objects to decrease the uncertainty on ∼ the planetary nebula population binary fraction and increase the statistical significance of this result. R´esum´e Les n´ebuleusesplan´etaires(NP) sont le produit de l'´evolution d'´etoilesde masses in- term´ediairesapr`esl'expansion sph´erique`ala fin de leurs vies. Il a ´et´eestim´eobserva- tionnellement que 80% des NP ont des formes non-sph´eriques. Une fraction si ´elev´ee est d´eroutante et a mobilis´ela communaut´ede recherche sur les NP pendant plus de trente ans. Un sc´enarioqui permettrait de justifier les formes observ´eesserait que les ´etoilesprog´enitricesde noyaux de NP (NNP) ne sont pas simples, mais poss`edent un compagnon. Les formes des n´ebuleusesseraient ainsi le r´esultatde l'interaction avec le compagnon. La fraction si ´elev´eede NP non-sph´eriquesimpliquerait donc une fraction ´elev´eede NNP binaires, faisant de la parit´estellaire un canal de formation privil´egi´epour les NP. Apr`esavoir pr´esent´el'´etat de connaissance actuelle concernant la formation et la mise en forme des NP, je pr´esente mes travaux visant `ad´etecter un exc`esinfrarouge qui serait la signature de la pr´esenced'un compagnon orbitant le NNP.