AGB stars appear to lose mass spherically, but many PNe resulting from the AGB mass-loss have non-spherical morphologies. Compact disks have been found in some bipolar PNe, but their role in the shaping process remains unknown. Compact Keplerian disks are found to be common around post-AGB binaries, however, these objects may never develop into PNe. Another group of post-AGB stars, known as pre-PNe, are surrounded by collimated nebulae shining by reflected light or shock ionisation. We are observing the inner circumstellar regions of pre-PNe at high angular resolutions with the VLTI. We seek to compare pre-PNe disks to those around other post-AGB stars and PNe. New observations of the pre-PN, IRAS 16279-4757, show evidence for a disk similar to those seen in young PNe.

We review gas-phase abundances in PNe and describe their dual utility as archives of original progenitor metallicity via the α elements, as well as sources of processed material from nucleosynthesis during the star's evolution, i.e., C, N, and s-process elements. We describe the analysis of PN spectra to derive abundances and discuss the discrepancies that arise from different choices at each step. Abundance results for the Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds from various groups of investigators are presented; the observational results are compared with theoretical predictions of AGB stellar yields. Finally, we suggest areas where more work is needed to improve our abilities to determine abundances in PNe.

Observations of planetary nebulae have revealed a wealth of information about the composition of heavy elements synthesized by the slow neutron capture process (the s process). In some of these nebulae the abundances of neutron-capture elements are enriched by factors of 10 to 30 times the solar value, indicating that these elements were produced in the progenitor star while it was on the asymptotic giant branch (AGB). In this proceedings we summarize results of our recent full s-process network predictions covering a wide range of progenitor masses and metallicities. We compare our model predictions to observations and show how this can provide important insights into nucleosynthesis processes occurring deep within AGB stars.

Progress in the study of the atomic processes in planetary nebulae (PNe) is reviewed, focusing on the literature published since the last IAU symposium on PNe five years ago. High quality photoionization cross sections and recombination coefficients are now available for the first six ions of the trans-iron elements selenium and krypton, enabling robust modeling of their ionization structure and consequently converting the measured ionic abundances to elemental abundances. Major progress has been achieved in utilizing the recombination spectra of helium and heavy element ions to probe the nebular physical conditions. New ab initio, density-dependent effective recombination coefficients have been calculated for the recombination spectra of O ii and N ii, down to very low temperatures (~ 100–300 K). Plasma diagnostics based entirely on those heavy element recombination lines are developed and applied to the observations. It is shown that these heavy element recombination lines originate predominately from cold plasmas of temperatures ~ 1,000 K, in agreement with the predictions of the bi-abundance model that has been proposed to explain the dichotomy of nebular plasma diagnostics and abundance determinations using collisional excited lines (CELs) on the one hand and optical recombination lines (ORLs) on the other.

In 2010, we organised a workshop in Tenerife with the aim of bringing together scientists concerned with the completeness and accuracy of atomic data for astrophysical applications. Participants included atomic physicists, theoretical astrophysicists and astronomers, and the workshop covered topics such as the evaluation of uncertainties in atomic data, the propagation of such uncertainties in chemical abundances, and the feedback between observations and calculations. Communication issues were also discussed, including questions such as: How can it be ensured that atomic data are correctly understood and used? Which forum is the best one for a fluid interaction between all communities involved in the production and use of atomic data? This contribution lays out the main issues raised during the workshop and some of the solutions proposed.

The extraction of chemical abundances of ionised nebulae from a limited spectral range is usually hampered by the lack of emission lines corresponding to certain ionic stages. So far, the missing emission lines have been accounted for by the ionisation correction factors (ICFs), constructed under simplistic assumptions like spherical geometry by using 1-D photoionisation modelling.

In this contribution we discuss the results (Gonçalves et al. 2011, in prep.) of our ongoing project to find a new set of ICFs to determine total abundances of N, O, Ne, Ar, and S, with optical spectra, in the case of non-spherical PNe. These results are based on a grid of 3-D photoionisation modelling of round, elliptical and bipolar shaped PNe, spanning the typical PN luminosities, effective temperatures and densities.

We show that the additional corrections to the widely used Kingsburgh & Barlow (1994) ICFs are always higher for bipolars than for ellipticals. Moreover, these additional corrections are, for bipolars, up to: 17% for oxygen, 33% for nitrogen, 40% for neon, 28% for argon and 50% for sulphur. Finally, on top of the fact that corrections change greatly with shape, they vary also greatly with the central star temperature, while the luminosity is a less important parameter.

Many complex organic molecules and inorganic solid-state compounds have been observed in the circumstellar shell of stars (both C-rich and O-rich) in the transition phase between Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars and Planetary Nebulae (PNe). This short (~102-104 years) phase of stellar evolution represents a wonderful laboratory for astrochemistry and provides severe constraints on any model of gas-phase and solid-state chemistry. One of the major challenges of present day astrophysics and astrochemistry is to understand the formation pathways of these complex organic molecules and inorganic solid-state compounds (e.g., polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, fullerenes, and graphene in the case of a C-rich chemistry and oxides and crystalline silicates in O-rich environments) in space. In this review, I present an observational review of the molecular processes in the late stages of stellar evolution with a special emphasis on the first detections of fullerenes and graphene in PNe.

A revival over the past two decades in planetary nebula (PN) morphological studies springs from a combination of factors, including the advent of wide-area, high dynamic range detectors; the growing archives of high resolution images from the X-ray to the sub-mm; and the advent of sophisticated models of the co-evolution of PNe and their central stars. Yet the story of PN formation from their immediate precursors, the AGB stars, is not yet fully written. PN morphology continues to inspire, provide context for physical interpretation, and serve as an ultimate standard of comparison for many investigations in this area of astrophysics. After a brief review of the remarkable successes of PN morphology, I summarize how this tool has been employed over the last half-decade to advance our understanding of PNe.

We present new results of 3-D AMR MHD simulations focusing on two distinct aspects of PPN evolution. We first report new simulations of collimated outflows driven entirely by magnetic fields. These Poynting flux dominated “magnetic towers” hold promise for explaining key properties of PPN flows. Our simulations address magnetic tower evolution and stability. We also present results of a campaign of simulations to explore the development of accretion disks formed via wind capture. Our result focus on the limits of disk formation and the range of disk properties.

This paper is a review of some of the recent modeling efforts to improve our understanding of structure formation and evolution of planetary nebulae including their interaction with the interstellar medium. New propositions have been made for the formation mechanism of multi-polar PNe and PPNe. These mechanisms are based on the central engine with interacting binary stars or hole producing instabilities in expanding shock waves leading to illumination effects from the central star that change the appearance of the nebula. Furthermore, there has been a lot of progress in the observation and 3D modeling of the kinematics, which is key to the understanding of the dynamics. Extensive observational catalogs are coming online for the kinematics, as well as some very detailed proper motion measurements have been made. New techniques for morpho–kinematic 3D modeling help to make the interpretation of kinematic data more reliable and detailed. In addition to individual pointed observations, new surveys have lead to the discovery of many PNe that show clear signs of interaction with the interstellar medium. Systematic hydrodynamic models of the interaction have produced a general scheme for the observed structure that results from the interaction of an evolving planetary nebula with the ISM. Detailed modeling of the dust-gas dynamics during the interaction with the ISM have produced interesting predictions for future IR observations. Detailed models were worked out for the structure of the bowshock and tail of Mira that was recently discovered in the UV.

Magnetic fields appear ubiquitous throughout the envelopes of evolved stars. However, their origin and role in the formation of planetary nebulae is still unclear. As observations of magnetic fields are complicated and time consuming, the observed samples of AGB and post-AGB stars and planetary nebulae are still small. Still, magnetic energy seems to dominate the energy budget out to a distance of several tens of AU from the central star and the field morphology often appears to be well ordered. A short summary is given of the current observations and the potential of new instruments such as ALMA is discussed.

Pre-Planetary Nebulae (PPNe) are believed to represent a relatively short, intermediate evolutionary phase in the evolution of AGB stars to Planetary Nebulae (PNe). Our unbiased, high-resolution imaging surveys with HST of young PNe and PPNe show very strong morphological similarities between these classes, enabling us to extend our morphological scheme for PPN classification to young PNe, preserving virtually all of the primary and secondary descriptors, and adding a few new ones. These morphological surveys show that the primary shaping of PNe begins during the PPNe and/or late-AGB phase, and the key to understanding the shaping process lies in the study of these PNe progenitors. Here we present results from two recent studies of PNe progenitors: (i) Hα emission with very broad wings and P-Cygni profiles as probes of the region where the fast post-AGB outflows that do the shaping are most likely launched from, and (ii) equatorial waists with large-sized dust grains and large masses.

We present a general three-dimensional model of multipolar planetary nebulae (PNe). By rotating to different viewing angles and adjusting the angles between the multiple lobes, we demonstrate that the model is able to reproduce HST Hα images of 20 multipolar young PNe. Though this model only considers the geometrical projection effects, it significantly unifies the selected PNe and can be considered as a first-order fundamental model of the “multipolar” morphological class. This kind of model reduces complexity and is essential to pursuing of the shaping mechanism. In addition, we illustrate that under some special conditions, i.e. in certain viewing angles, or with low sensitivity, it will be hard to imagine that the projected image originates from a multipolar-lobed model.

High velocity jets are among the most prominent features of a wide class of planetary nebulae, but their origins are not understood. Several different types of physical models have been suggested to power the jets, but there is no consensus or preferred scenario. We compare current theoretical ideas on jet formation with observations, using the best studied pre–planetary nebulae in millimeter CO, where the dynamical properties are best defined. In addition to the mass, velocity, momentum, and energy of the jets, the mass and energetics of the equatorial mass-loss that typically accompanies jet formation prove to be important diagnostics. Our integrated approach provides estimates for some key physical quantities – such as the binding energy of the envelope when the jets are launched – and allows testing of model features using correlations between parameters. Even with a relatively small sample of well-observed objects, we find that some specific scenarios for powering jets can be ruled out or rendered implausible, and others are promising at a quantitative level.

Our understanding of planetary nebulae has been significantly enhanced as a result of several recent large surveys (Parker et al., these proceedings). These new discoveries suggest that the ‘PN phenomenon’ is in fact more heterogeneous than previously envisaged. Even after the careful elimination of mimics from Galactic PN catalogues, there remains a surprising diversity in the population of PNe and especially their central stars. Indeed, several evolutionary scenarios are implicated in the formation of objects presently catalogued as PNe. We provide a summary of these evolutionary pathways and give examples of each. Eventually, a full census of local PNe can be used to confront both stellar evolution theory and population synthesis models.

This paper is focused on the transition phase between central stars and white dwarfs, i.e. objects in the effective temperature range 100 000 – 200 000 K. We confine our review to hydrogen-deficient stars because the common H-rich objects are subject of the paper by Ziegler et al. in these proceedings. We address the claimed iron-deficiency in PG1159 stars and [WC] central stars. The discovery of new Ne vii and Ne viii lines in PG1159 stars suggests that the identification of O vii and O viii lines that are used for spectral classification of [WCE] stars is wrong. We then present evidence for two distinct post-AGB evolutionary sequences for H-deficient stars based on abundance analyses of the He-dominated O(He) stars and the hot DO white dwarf KPD 0005+5106. Finally, we report on evidence for an H-deficient post-super AGB evolution sequence represented by the hottest known, carbon/oxygen-atmosphere white dwarf H 1504+65 and the recently discovered carbon-atmosphere “hot DQ” white dwarfs.

The photospheric emission from the hottest central stars of planetary nebulae (CSPNe) is capable to extend into the X-ray domain, with emission peaking at 0.1-0.2 keV and vanishing above 0.4 keV. Unexpected, intriguing hard X-ray emission with energies greater than 0.5 keV has been reported for several CSPNe and for a number of white dwarfs (WDs). Different mechanisms may be responsible for the hard X-ray emission from CSPNe and WDs: coronal emission from a late-type companion, shocks in fast winds as in OB stars, leakage from underneath the star photosphere, or accretion of material from a disk, a companion star, or the circumstellar medium. Therefore, the hard X-ray emission associated with CSPNe may have significant implications for our understanding of the formation of PNe: binary companions, disks, and magnetic fields are thought to play a major role in the shaping of PNe, whereas clumping in the stellar wind may have notable effects in the PN evolution by modifying the stellar mechanical energy output. Here I present the results of different observational efforts to search for hard X-ray emission from CSPNe and discuss the different mechanisms for the production of hard X-rays.

We present results of a (F)UV spectral analysis of 15 hot, hydrogen-rich central stars of planetary nebulae (CSPNe) of DAO-type (A 7, A 31, A 35, A 39, NGC 3587, NGC 6720, NGC 6853, NGC 7293, PuWe 1, Sh 2-174) and O(H)-type (A 36, Lo 1, LSS 1362, NGC 1360, NGC 4361). The sample covers a wide range of parameters (Teff ≈ 70–130 kK, log g = 5.4–7.4). It represents different stages of post-AGB evolution. The derived stellar parameters are crucial constraints for AGB nucleosynthesis and stellar evolutionary calculations. Detailed spectral analyses using fully line-blanketed NLTE model atmospheres including 23 elements from hydrogen to nickel are performed. Additional modeling of the ISM line absorption enables to unambigiously identify nearly all observed lines and to improve both, the photospheric as well as the ISM model.

Based on time-dependent radiation-hydrodynamics simulations of the evolution of Planetary Nebulae (PNe), we have carried out a systematic parameter study to address the non-trivial question of how the diffuse X-ray emission of PNe with closed central cavities is expected to depend on the evolutionary state of the nebula, the mass of the central star, and the metallicity of stellar wind and circumstellar matter. We have also investigated how the model predictions depend on the treatment of thermal conduction at the interface between the central ‘hot bubble’ and the ‘cool’ inner nebula, and compare the results with recent X-ray observations. Our study includes models whose properties resemble the extreme case of PNe with Wolf-Rayet type central stars. Indeed, such models are found to produce the highest X-ray luminosities.

Over the last 20 years planetary searches have revealed a wealth of systems orbiting stars on the main sequence. Most of these low-mass stars eventually will evolve into the Giant phases before entering the planetary nebulae (PNe) stage. In the last years, the presence of planets has also been discovered around more massive evolved stars, mostly, along the Red Giant but also along the Horizontal Branch. Moreover, disks have been found around White Dwarfs presumably formed by tidally disrupted asteroids. In all, there is evidence that an evolved (ing) star might influence the survival of planets. In this review I will try to summarize such evidence but furthermore I will present the other side of the story, that is, how the presence of a planet might alter the evolution of stars and with that the PN formation.