Central Stars of PNe in the Magellanic Clouds

E. Villaver

StScI, Baltimore, MD, USA

The Central Stars (CSs) of Planetary Nebulae (PNe) can be used as probes of fundamental processes in stellar evolution theory, mainly because they are the progenitors of the white dwarf population and they are the result of the heavy mass-loss during the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB). The mass distribution of CSs of PNe and the upper initial mass limit for the white dwarf production depends on a poorly understood process: the mass-loss during the AGB phase, a mass-loss which is also expected to change with metallicity. The Magellanic Clouds (MCs) offer an unique opportunity to study the mass distribution of CSs of PNe under different metallicity environments. I will review studies of CSs of PNs in the MCs and I will present the results from our recent work on the distribution of CSs masses in the MCs, where CS masses can be determined with unprecedented accuracy compared to in the Galaxy.