Recurrent Novae as a Progenitor System of Type Ia Supernovae. I. RS Ophiuchi Subclass: Systems with a Red Giant Companion
By I. Hachisu, M. Kato. 2001
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Theoretical light curves of four recurrent novae in outburst are modeled to obtain various physical parameters. The four objects studied here are those with a red giant companion, i.e., T Coronae Borealis, RS Ophiuchi, V745 Scorpii, and V3890 Sagittarii. Our model consists of a very massive white dwarf (WD) with an accretion disk and a red giant companion. Light-curve calculation includes reflection effects of the companion star and the accretion disk together with a shadowing effect on the companion by the accretion disk. We also include a radiation-induced warping instability of the accretion disk to reproduce the second peak of T CrB outbursts. The early visual light curves are well reproduced by applying a thermonuclear runaway model to a very massive white dwarf close to the Chandrasekhar mass limit, i.e., MWD = 1.37 ± 0.01 M☉ for T CrB and 1.35 ± 0.01 M☉ for RS Oph with solar metallicity (Z = 0.02), but 1.377 ± 0.01 M☉ for RS Oph with low metallicity (Z = 0.004), 1.35 ± 0.01 M☉ for V745 Sco, and 1.35 ± 0.01 M☉ for V3890 Sgr. Optically thick winds, which blow from the WDs during the outbursts, play a key role in determining the nova duration and the speed of decline because the wind quickly reduces the envelope mass on the WD. The envelope mass at each optical maximum is also estimated to be ΔM ~ 3 × 10-6 M☉ (T CrB), 2 × 10-6 M☉ (RS Oph), 5 × 10-6 M☉ (V745 Sco), 3 × 10-6 M☉ (V3890 Sgr), indicating average mass accretion rates of acc ~ 0.4 × 10-7 M☉ yr-1 (80 yr; T CrB), 1.2 × 10-7 M☉ yr-1 (18 yr; RS Oph), 0.9 × 10-7 M☉ yr-1 (52 yr; V745 Sco), and 1.1 × 10-7 M☉ yr-1 (28 yr; V3890 Sgr) during the quiescent phase before the last outburst. Although a large part of the envelope mass is blown off in the wind, each WD retains a substantial part of the envelope mass after hydrogen burning ends. Thus, we have obtained net mass-increasing rates of the WDs as He ~ 0.1 × 10-7 M☉ yr-1 (T CrB), 0.12 × 10-7 M☉ yr-1 (RS Oph), 0.05 × 10-7 M☉ yr-1 (V745 Sco), 0.11 × 10-7 M☉ yr-1 (V3890 Sgr). These results strongly indicate that the WDs in the recurrent novae have now grown to near the Chandrasekhar mass limit and will soon explode as a Type Ia supernova if the WDs consist of carbon and oxygen. We have also clarified the reason that T CrB shows a secondary maximum but the other three systems do not.
Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/d37958cc719b20fe2a7c79fad4d0063d65a47ae3
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Citations in the corpus
- COMPREHENSIVE PHOTOMETRIC HISTORIES OF ALL KNOWN GALACTIC RECURRENT NOVAE (2009, background): “Indeed, the RNe have an accretion rate higher than most cataclysmic variables, with values close to 10−7 M yr −1 (Hachisu & Kato 2000; 2001; Webbink et al. 1987; Patterson et al. 1998; Knigge, King, & Patterson 2000; Hachisu et al. 2000; Hachisu, Kato, & Schaefer 2003).”
- The Progenitors of Type Ia Supernovae (2012, background): “Thus, these objects become some of the most likely candidates of SN Ia progenitors (Starrfield et al., 1985; Hachisu and Kato, 2001).”
- Are the Models for Type Ia Supernova Progenitors Consistent with the Properties of Supernova Remnants? (2007, background): “Recurrent novae like RS Oph or U Sco are thought to be the observational counterparts of WD binaries accreting in this regime (Hachisu & Kato 2001).”
- The rates of type Ia supernovae - I. Analytical formulations (2005, background): “The response of the CO WD to accretion crucially depends on the accretion rate, as illustrated in Hachisu & Kato (2001).”