Millinovae: A New Class of Transient Supersoft X-ray Sources without a Classical Nova Eruption

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Auteurs principaux: Mróz, Przemek, Król, Krzysztof, Szegedi, Hélène, Charles, Philip, Page, Kim L., Udalski, Andrzej, Buckley, David A. H., Dewangan, Gulab, Meintjes, Pieter, Szymański, Michał K., Soszyński, Igor, Pietrukowicz, Paweł, Kozłowski, Szymon, Poleski, Radosław, Skowron, Jan, Ulaczyk, Krzysztof, Gromadzki, Mariusz, Rybicki, Krzysztof, Iwanek, Patryk, Wrona, Marcin, Mróz, Mateusz J.
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2024
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author Mróz, Przemek
Król, Krzysztof
Szegedi, Hélène
Charles, Philip
Page, Kim L.
Udalski, Andrzej
Buckley, David A. H.
Dewangan, Gulab
Meintjes, Pieter
Szymański, Michał K.
Soszyński, Igor
Pietrukowicz, Paweł
Kozłowski, Szymon
Poleski, Radosław
Skowron, Jan
Ulaczyk, Krzysztof
Gromadzki, Mariusz
Rybicki, Krzysztof
Iwanek, Patryk
Wrona, Marcin
Mróz, Mateusz J.
author_facet Mróz, Przemek
Król, Krzysztof
Szegedi, Hélène
Charles, Philip
Page, Kim L.
Udalski, Andrzej
Buckley, David A. H.
Dewangan, Gulab
Meintjes, Pieter
Szymański, Michał K.
Soszyński, Igor
Pietrukowicz, Paweł
Kozłowski, Szymon
Poleski, Radosław
Skowron, Jan
Ulaczyk, Krzysztof
Gromadzki, Mariusz
Rybicki, Krzysztof
Iwanek, Patryk
Wrona, Marcin
Mróz, Mateusz J.
contents Some accreting binary systems containing a white dwarf (such as classical novae or persistent supersoft sources) are seen to emit low-energy X-rays with temperatures of ~10^6 K and luminosities exceeding 10^35 erg/s. These X-rays are thought to originate from nuclear burning on the white dwarf surface, either caused by a thermonuclear runaway (classical novae) or a high mass-accretion rate that sustains steady nuclear burning (persistent sources). The discovery of transient supersoft X-rays from ASASSN-16oh challenged these ideas, as no clear signatures of mass ejection indicative of a classical nova eruption were detected, and the origin of these X-rays remains controversial. It was unclear whether this star was one of a kind or representative of a larger, as yet undiscovered, group. Here, we present the discovery of 29 stars located in the direction of the Magellanic Clouds exhibiting long-duration, symmetrical optical outbursts similar to that seen in ASASSN-16oh. We observed one of these objects during an optical outburst and found it to be emitting transient supersoft X-rays, while no signatures of mass ejection (indicative of a classical nova eruption) were detected. We therefore propose that these objects form a homogeneous group of transient supersoft X-ray sources, which we dub ``millinovae'' because their optical luminosities are approximately a thousand times fainter than those of ordinary classical novae.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_17338
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Millinovae: A New Class of Transient Supersoft X-ray Sources without a Classical Nova Eruption
Mróz, Przemek
Król, Krzysztof
Szegedi, Hélène
Charles, Philip
Page, Kim L.
Udalski, Andrzej
Buckley, David A. H.
Dewangan, Gulab
Meintjes, Pieter
Szymański, Michał K.
Soszyński, Igor
Pietrukowicz, Paweł
Kozłowski, Szymon
Poleski, Radosław
Skowron, Jan
Ulaczyk, Krzysztof
Gromadzki, Mariusz
Rybicki, Krzysztof
Iwanek, Patryk
Wrona, Marcin
Mróz, Mateusz J.
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Some accreting binary systems containing a white dwarf (such as classical novae or persistent supersoft sources) are seen to emit low-energy X-rays with temperatures of ~10^6 K and luminosities exceeding 10^35 erg/s. These X-rays are thought to originate from nuclear burning on the white dwarf surface, either caused by a thermonuclear runaway (classical novae) or a high mass-accretion rate that sustains steady nuclear burning (persistent sources). The discovery of transient supersoft X-rays from ASASSN-16oh challenged these ideas, as no clear signatures of mass ejection indicative of a classical nova eruption were detected, and the origin of these X-rays remains controversial. It was unclear whether this star was one of a kind or representative of a larger, as yet undiscovered, group. Here, we present the discovery of 29 stars located in the direction of the Magellanic Clouds exhibiting long-duration, symmetrical optical outbursts similar to that seen in ASASSN-16oh. We observed one of these objects during an optical outburst and found it to be emitting transient supersoft X-rays, while no signatures of mass ejection (indicative of a classical nova eruption) were detected. We therefore propose that these objects form a homogeneous group of transient supersoft X-ray sources, which we dub ``millinovae'' because their optical luminosities are approximately a thousand times fainter than those of ordinary classical novae.
title Millinovae: A New Class of Transient Supersoft X-ray Sources without a Classical Nova Eruption
topic Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.17338