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The beginning of photoionization marks the transition between the post-Asymptotic Giant Branch (post-AGB) and planetary nebula (PN) phases of stars with masses < 8 M_sun. This critical phase is difficult to observe, as it lasts only a few decades. The combination of jets and magnetic fields, the key agents of PNe shaping, could give rise to synchrotron emission, but this has never been observed before in any PNe, since free-free emission from the ionized gas is expected to dominate its radio spectrum. In this paper we report radio continuum observations taken with the Australia Telescope Compact Array between 1 and 46 GHz of the young PN IRAS 15103-5754. Our observations in 2010-2011 show non-thermal emission compatible with synchrotron emission from electrons accelerated at a shock with spectral index $alpha simeq -0.54$. However, in 2012, the spectral index $alpha simeq -0.28$ is no longer compatible with synchrotron emission in these types of processes. Several hypothesis are discussed to explain this change. The more plausible ones are related to the presence of the newly photoionized region in this young PN: either energy loss of electrons due to Coulomb collisions with the plasma, or selective suppression of synchrotron radiation due to the Razin effect. We postulate that the observed flattening of non-thermal radio spectra could be a hallmark identifying the beginning of the PN phase.
We present continuum and molecular line (CO, C$^{18}$O, HCO$^+$) observations carried out with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array toward the water fountain star IRAS 15103-5754, an object that could be the youngest PN known. We detect t
We present high-angular-resolution {it Hubble Space Telescope (HST)} optical and near-infrared imaging of the compact planetary nebula (PN) IRAS 21282+5050. Optical images of this object reveal several complex morphological structures including three
We investigate the circumstellar dust properties of the oxygen-rich bipolar proto-planetary nebula IRAS 18276-1431 by means of two-dimensional radiative transfer simulations of the circumstellar dust shell. The model geometry is assumed to have a tor
Current models predict that binary interactions are a major ingredient for the formation of bipolar planetary nebulae (PNe) and pre-planetary nebulae (PPNe). Despite years of radial velocity (RV) monitoring, the paucity of known binaries amongst the
We present results from the most recent set of observations obtained as part of the Chandra X-ray observatory Planetary Nebula Survey (ChanPlaNS), the first comprehensive X-ray survey of planetary nebulae (PNe) in the solar neighborhood (i.e., within