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Classical Novae – Before and After Outburst

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Mario Livio
Mario Livio*
Affiliation:
Dept. of Astronomy, Univ. of Illinois, DARC Observatoire de Paris, Meudon and Dept. of Physics, Technion, Haifa.

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Classical nova (CN) and dwarf nova (DN) systems have the same binary components (a low-mass main sequence star and a white dwarf) and the same orbital periods. An important question that therefore arises is: are these systems really different ? (and if so, what is the fundamental difference ?) or, are these the same systems, metamorphosing from one class to the other ?

The first thing to note in this respect is that the white dwarfs in DN systems are believed to accrete continuously (both at quiescence and during eruptions). At the same time, both analytic (e.g. Fujimoto 1982) and numerical calculations show, that when sufficient mass accumulates on the white dwarf, a thermonuclear runaway (TNR) is obtained and a nova outburst ensues (see e.g. reviews by Gallagher and Starrfield 1978, Truran 1982). It is thus only natural, to ask the question, is the fact that we have not seen a DN undergo a CN outburst (in about 50 years of almost complete coverage) consistent with observations of DN systems ? In an attempt to answer this question, we have calculated the probability for a nova outburst not to occur (in 50 years) in 86 DN systems (for which at least some of the orbital parameters are known).

Type
Part III. Chemical and Dynamical Structures of Exploding Stars
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 108: Atmospherics Diagnostics of Stellar Evolution: Chemical Peculiarity, Mass Loss, and Explosion , 1988 , pp. 226 - 231
Copyright
Copyright © Springer-Verlag 1988

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