The coordinated radio and infrared survey for high-mass star formation – IV. A new radio-selected sample of compact galactic planetary nebulae

We present a new radio-selected sample of PNe from the CORNISH survey. This is a radio continuum survey of the inner Galactic plane covering Galactic longitude, 10° < l < 65° and latitude, |b| < 1° with a resolution of 1.5 arcsec and sensitivity better than 0.4 mJy  beam−1. The radio regime, being unbiased by dust extinction, allows for a more complete sample selection, especially towards the Galactic mid-plane. Visual inspection of the CORNISH data, in combination with data from multiwavelength surveys of the Galactic plane, allowed the CORNISH team to identify 169 candidate PNe. Here, we explore the use of multiwavelength diagnostic plots and analysis to verify and classify the candidate PNe. We present the multiwavelength properties of this new PNe sample. We find 90 new PNe, of which 12 are newly discovered and 78 are newly classified as PNe. A further 47 previously suspected PNe are confirmed as such from the analysis presented here and 24 known PNe are detected. Eight sources are classified as possible PNe or other source types. Our sample includes a young sub-sample, with physical diameters <0.12 pc, brightness temperatures (>1000 K) and located closer than 7 kpc. Within this sample is a water-maser PN with a spectral index of −0.55 ± 0.08, which indicates non-thermal radio emission. Such a radio-selected sample, unaffected by extinction, will be particularly useful to compare with population synthesis models and should contribute to the understanding of the formation and evolution of PNe.