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Henze, M, Ness, J-U, Darnley, MJ, Bode, MF, Williams, SC, Shafter, AW, Kato, M and Hachisu, I (2014) A remarkable recurrent nova in M 31: The X-ray observations. ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, 563 (L8). ISSN 0004-6361
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Abstract
Context. Another outburst of the recurrent M 31 nova M31N 2008-12a was announced in late November 2013. Optical data suggest an unprecedentedly short recurrence time of approximately one year.
Aims. In this Letter we address the X-ray properties of M31N 2008-12a.
Methods. We requested Swift monitoring observations shortly after the optical discovery. We estimated source count rates and extracted X-ray spectra from the resulting data. The corresponding ultraviolet (UV) data was also analysed.
Results. M31N 2008-12a was clearly detected as a bright supersoft X-ray source (SSS) only six days after the well-constrained optical discovery. It displayed a short SSS phase of two weeks duration and an exceptionally hot X-ray spectrum with an effective blackbody temperature of ∼ 97 eV. During the SSS phase the X-ray light curve displayed significant variability that might have been
accompanied by spectral variations. The very early X-ray variability was found to be anti-correlated with simultaneous variations in the UV flux.
Conclusions. The X-ray properties of M31N 2008-12a coherently point towards a high-mass white dwarf in the nova system. This object might be a promising Type Ia supernova progenitor. We re-discovered additional X-ray detections of M31N 2008-12a that are consistent with our data and increase the number of known nova outbursts to seven. This nova is an exceptional object that merits further attention in the future.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Uncontrolled Keywords: | 0201 Astronomical And Space Sciences |
| Subjects: | Q Science > QB Astronomy |
| Divisions: | Astrophysics Research Institute |
| Publisher: | EDP SCIENCES S A |
| Related URLs: | |
| Date Deposited: | 12 Sep 2016 08:47 |
| Last Modified: | 04 Sep 2021 12:32 |
| DOI or ID number: | 10.1051/0004-6361/201423410 |
| URI: | https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/4130 |
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