Bipolar jets growth and decline in Hen 3-1341: a direct link to fast wind and outburst evolution⋆

The appearance and disappearance of collimated bipolar jets in the symbiotic star Hen 3-1341 is reported and investigated. From modeling of the emission line spectrum it turns out that the accreting white dwarf in quiescence has TWD∼1.2 10 5 K and RWD∼ 0.14 R⊙, for a luminosity of 3.8 10 3 L⊙, and it is stably burning hydrogen on the surface at a rate of ṀH∼5 10 M⊙yr , feeding ionizing photons to a radiation bounded circumstellar nebula extending for ∼17 AU. The WD underwent a multi-maxima outburst lasting from 1998 to 2004 during which its H-burning envelope reacted to a probable small increase in the mass accretion by expanding and cooling to Teff∼1 10 4 K and R∼ 20 R⊙, mimicking an A-type giant that radiated a total of ∼6 10 erg, at an average rate of ∼1 10 L⊙. Bipolar jets developed at the time of outburst maximum and their strength declined in parallel with the demise of the fast wind from the inflated WD, finally disappearing when the wind stopped halfway to quiescence, marking a 1:1 correspondence between jets presence and feeding action of the fast wind. The total mass in the jets was Mjet∼2.5 10 −7 M⊙ for a kinetic energy of E jet ∼1.7 10 (sin i) erg, corresponding to ∼0.3(sin i)% of the energy radiated during the whole outburst.