Infrared properties of planetary nebulae with [WR] and wels central stars

Abstract

We report the infrared (IR) properties of planetary nebulae (PNe) with Wolf–Rayet (WR) type and wels central stars known to date and compare them with the IR properties of a sample of PNe with H-rich central stars. We use near-, mid-, and far-IR photometric data from archives to derive the IR properties of PNe. We have constructed IR colour–colour diagrams of PNe using measurements from 2MASS, IRAS, WISE, and Akari bands. [WR] PNe have a larger near-IR emission from the hot dust component and also show a tendency for stronger 12 μm emission as compared to the other two groups. Cool asymptotic giant branch dust properties of all PNe are found to be similar. We derived the dust colour temperatures, dust masses, dust-to-gas mass ratios, IR luminosities, and IR excess (IRE) of PNe for these three groups. [WR] PNe and wels-PNe tend to have larger mean values for dust mass when compared to the third group. The average dust-to-gas mass ratio is found to be similar for the three groups of PNe. While there is a strong correlation of dust temperature and IR luminosity with the age for the three groups of PNe, the dust mass, dust-to-gas mass ratios, and IRE are found to be non-varying as the PNe evolve. [WR] PNe and wels-PNe show very similar distribution of excitation classes and also show similar distribution with Galactic latitude.