Increasing Activity in T CrB Suggests Nova Eruption Is Impending
| dc.contributor.author | Luna, Gerardo J. M. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Sokoloski, J. L. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Mukai, Koji | |
| dc.contributor.author | Kuin, N. Paul M. | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2020-12-08T19:12:23Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2020-12-08T19:12:23Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2020-10-08 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Estimates of the accretion rate in symbiotic recurrent novae (RNe) often fall short of theoretical expectations by orders of magnitude. This apparent discrepancy can be resolved if the accumulation of mass by the white dwarf (WD) is highly sporadic, and most observations are performed during low states. Here we use a re-analysis of archival data from the Digital Access to a Sky Century @Harvard survey to argue that the most recent nova eruption in symbiotic RN T CrB, in 1946, occurred during—and was therefore triggered by—a transient accretion high state. Based on similarities in the optical light curve around 1946 and the time of the prior eruption, in 1866, we suggest that the WD in T CrB accumulates most of the fuel needed to ignite the thermonuclear runaways (TNRs) during accretion high states. A natural origin for such states is dwarf-nova like accretion-disk instabilities, which are expected in the presumably large disks in symbiotic binaries. The timing of the TNRs in symbiotic RNe could thus be set by the stability properties of their accretion disks. T CrB is in the midst of an accretion high state like the ones we posit led to the past two nova eruptions. Combined with the approach of the time at which a TNR would be expected based on the 80 yr interval between the prior two novae (2026 ± 3), the current accretion high state increases the likelihood of a TNR occurring in T CrB in the next few years. | en_US |
| dc.description.sponsorship | We acknowledge with thanks the variable star observations from the AAVSO International Database contributed by observers worldwide and used in this research. The DASCH project at Harvard is grateful for partial support from NSF grants AST-0407380, AST0909073, and AST-1313370. GJML is a member of the CIC-CONICET (Argentina) and acknowledge support from grants ANPCYT-PICT 0901/2017 and CONICETNSF International Cooperation Grant 2016. NPMK acknowledges support from the UK Space Agency. JLS acknowledges support from NSF award AST-1616646. | en_US |
| dc.description.uri | https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/abbb2c | en_US |
| dc.format.extent | 5 pages | en_US |
| dc.genre | journal articles preprints | en_US |
| dc.identifier | doi:10.13016/m2lkd7-vfzr | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Gerardo J. M. Luna, J. L. Sokoloski, Koji Mukai and N. Paul M. Kuin, Increasing Activity in T CrB Suggests Nova Eruption Is Impending, 2020 ApJL 902 L14, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/abbb2c | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/abbb2c | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11603/20203 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | en_US |
| dc.publisher | IOP | en_US |
| dc.relation.isAvailableAt | The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) | |
| dc.relation.ispartof | UMBC Physics Department Collection | |
| dc.relation.ispartof | UMBC Faculty Collection | |
| dc.relation.ispartof | UMBC Center for Space Sciences and Technology (CSST)/Center for Research and Exploration in Space Sciences and Technology II (CREST II) | |
| dc.rights | This item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author. | |
| dc.rights | © 2020. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. | |
| dc.title | Increasing Activity in T CrB Suggests Nova Eruption Is Impending | en_US |
| dc.type | Text | en_US |