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The January 2016 eruption of recurrent nova LMC 1968

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Abstract

We present a comprehensive review of all observations of the eclipsing recurrent Nova LMC 1968 in the Large Magellanic Cloud which was previously observed in eruption in 1968, 1990, 2002, 2010, and most recently in 2016. We derive a probable recurrence time of 6.2 ± 1.2 years and provide the ephemerides of the eclipse. In the ultraviolet-optical-IR photometry the light curve shows high variability right from the first observation around two days after eruption. Therefore no colour changes can be substantiated. Outburst spectra from 2016 and 1990 are very similar and are dominated by H and He lines longward of 2000°A. Interstellar reddening is found to be E(B-V) = 0.07 ± 0.01. The super soft X-ray luminosity is lower than the Eddington luminosity and the X-ray spectra suggest the mass of the WD is larger than 1.3 M?. Eclipses in the light curve suggest that the system is at high orbital inclination. On day four after the eruption a recombination wave was observed in Fe II ultraviolet absorption lines. Narrow line components are seen after day 6 and explained as being due to reionisation of ejecta from a previous eruption. The UV spectrum varies with orbital phase, in particular a component of the He II 1640 °A emission line, which leads us to propose that early-on the inner WD Roche lobe might be filled with a bound opaque medium prior to the re-formation of an accretion disk. Both this medium and the ejecta can cause the delay in the appearance of the soft X-ray source.

Acceptance Date Oct 18, 2019
Publication Date Feb 1, 2020
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN 0035-8711
Publisher Oxford University Press
Pages 655-679
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz2960
Keywords novae, cataclysmic variables, stars: individual (Nova LMC 1968), ultraviolet: stars, X-rays: binaries, binaries: eclipsing
Publisher URL https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz2960

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