A geometrical model for the evolution of spherical planetary nebulae based on thin-shell formalism

Abstract

A spherical planetary nebula is described as a geometric model. The nebula itself is considered as a thin-shell, which is visualized as a boundary of two spacetimes. The inner and outer curvature tensors of the thin-shell are found in order to get an expression of the energy-momentum tensor on the thin-shell. The energy density and pressure expressions are derived using the energy-momentum tensor. The time evolution of the radius of the thin-shell is obtained in terms of the energy density. The model is tested by using a simple power function for decreasing energy density and the evolution pattern of the planetary nebula is attained.