Nuclear Thermometers for Classical Novae

Classical novae are stellar explosions occurring in binary systems, consisting of a white dwarf and a main sequence companion. Thermonuclear runaways on the surface of massive white dwarfs, consisting of oxygen and neon, are believed to reach peak temperatures of several hundred million kelvin. These temperatures are strongly correlated with the underlying white dwarf mass. The observational counterparts of such models are likely associated with outbursts that show strong spectral lines of neon in their shells (neon novae). The goals of this work are to investigate how useful elemental abundances are for constraining the peak temperatures achieved during these outbursts and determine how robust "nova thermometers" are with respect to uncertain nuclear physics input. We present updated observed abundances in neon novae and perform a series of hydrodynamic simulations for several white dwarf masses. We find that the most useful thermometers, N/O, N/Al, O/S, S/Al, O/Na, Na/Al, O/P, and P/Al, are those with the steepest monotonic dependence on peak temperature. The sensitivity of these thermometers to thermonuclear reaction rate variations is explored using post-processing nucleosynthesis simulations. The ratios N/O, N/Al, O/Na, and Na/Al are robust, meaning they are minimally affected by uncertain rates. However, their dependence on peak temperature is relatively weak. The ratios O/S, S/Al, O/P, and P/Al reveal strong dependences on temperature and the poorly known 30P(p,g)31S rate. We compare our model predictions to neon nova observations and obtain the following estimates for the underlying white dwarf masses: 1.34-1.35 solar masses (V838 Her), 1.18-1.21 solar masses (V382 Vel), <1.3 solar masses (V693 CrA), <1.2 solar masses (LMC 1990#1), and <1.2 solar masses (QU Vul).Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, accepted to Ap

On Presolar Stardust Grains from CO Classical Novae

About 30% to 40% of classical novae produce dust 20-100 days after the outburst, but no presolar stardust grains from classical novae have been unambiguously identified yet. Although several studies claimed a nova paternity for certain grains, the measured and simulated isotopic ratios could only be reconciled assuming that the grains condensed after the nova ejecta mixed with a much larger amount of close-to-solar matter. However, the source and mechanism of this potential post-explosion dilution of the ejecta remains a mystery. A major problem with previous studies is the small number of simulations performed and the implied poor exploration of the large nova parameter space. We report the results of a different strategy, based on a Monte Carlo technique, that involves the random sampling over the most important nova model parameters: the white dwarf composition; the mixing of the outer white dwarf layers with the accreted material before the explosion; the peak temperature and density; the explosion time scales; and the possible dilution of the ejecta after the outburst. We discuss and take into account the systematic uncertainties for both the presolar grain measurements and the simulation results. Only those simulations that are consistent with all measured isotopic ratios of a given grain are accepted for further analysis. We also present the numerical results of the model parameters. We identify 18 presolar grains with measured isotopic signatures consistent with a CO nova origin, without assuming any dilution of the ejecta. Among these, the grains G270 2, M11-334-2, G278, M11-347-4, M11-151-4, and Ag2 6 have the highest probability of a CO nova paternity.Comment: 8 figure

The Impact of Nuclear Reaction Rate Uncertainties on Evolutionary Studies of the Nova Outburst

The observable consequences of a nova outburst depend sensitively on the details of the thermonuclear runaway which initiates the outburst. One of the more important sources of uncertainty is the nuclear reaction data used as input for the evolutionary calculations. A recent paper by Starrfield, Truran, Wiescher, & Sparks (1998) has demonstrated that changes in the reaction rate library used within a nova simulation have significant effects, not just on the production of individual isotopes (which can change by an order of magnitude), but on global observables such as the peak luminosity and the amount of mass ejected. We present preliminary results of systematic analyses of the impact of reaction rate uncertainties on nova nucleosynthesis.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. to appear in "Cosmic Explosions", proceeding of the 10th Annual October Astrophysics Conference in Maryland (ed. S.S. Holt and W. W. Zhang

The Effects of Fe II NLTE on Nova Atmospheres and Spectra

The atmospheres of novae at early times in their outbursts are very extended, expanding shells with low densities. Models of these atmospheres show that NLTE effects are very important and must be included in realistic calculations. We have, therefore, been improving our atmospheric studies by increasing the number of ions treated in NLTE. One of the most important ions is Fe II which has a complex structure and numerous lines in the observable spectrum. In this paper we investigate NLTE effects for Fe II for a wide variety of parameters. We use a detailed Fe II model atom with 617 level and 13675 primary lines, treated using a rate-operator formalism. We show that the radiative transfer equation in nova atmospheres {\em must} be treated with sophisticated numerical methods and that simple approximations, such as the Sobolev method, {\em cannot} be used because of the large number of overlapping lines in the co-moving frame. Our results show that the formation of the Fe II lines is strongly affected by NLTE effects. For low effective temperatures, \Teff < 20,000\,K, the optical Fe II lines are most influenced by NLTE effects, while for higher \Teff the UV lines of Fe II are very strongly affected by NLTE. The departure coefficients are such that Fe II tends to be overionized in NLTE when compared to LTE. Therefore, Fe II-NLTE must be included with sophisticated radiative transfer in nova atmosphere models in order to reliably analyze observed nova spectra.Comment: 25 pages, latex, AASTEX, figures not included, full text plus figures available via http://brian.la.asu.edu/ or at ftp://brian.la.asu.edu/FeII-nova.tgz, to appear in Ap

Proton‐induced Thermonuclear Reaction Rates for A = 20–40 Nuclei

Proton-induced reaction rates on 26 stable and 29 unstable target nuclei in the mass A = 20–40 region have been evaluated and compiled. Recommended reaction rates, assuming that all interacting nuclei are in the ground state, are presented in tabular form on a temperature grid in the range T = 0.01–10.0 GK. Most reaction rates involving stable targets were normalized to a set of measured standard resonance strengths in the sd shell. For the majority of reaction rates, experimental information from transfer reaction studies has been used consistently. Our results are compared with recent statistical model (Hauser-Feshbach) calculations. Reaction rate uncertainties are presented and amount to several orders of magnitude for many of the reactions. Several of these reaction rates and/or their corresponding uncertainties deviate from results of previous compilations. In most cases, the deviations are explained by the fact that new experimental information became available recently. Examples are given for calculating reaction rates and reverse reaction rates for thermally excited nuclei from the present results. The survey of literature for this review was concluded in 2000 August

Presolar Grains from Novae: Evidence from Neon and Helium Isotopes in Comet Dust Collections

Presolar grains in meteorites and interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) carry non-solar isotopic signatures pointing to origins in supernovae, giant stars, and possibly other stellar sources. There have been suggestions that some of these grains condensed in the ejecta of classical nova outbursts, but the evidence is ambiguous. We report neon and helium compositions in particles captured on stratospheric collectors flown to sample materials from comets 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup and 55P/Tempel-Tuttle that point to condensation of their gas carriers in the ejecta of a neon (ONe) nova. The absence of detectable 3He in these particles indicates space exposure to solar wind (SW) irradiation of a few decades at most, consistent with origins in cometary dust streams. Measured 4He/20Ne, 20Ne/22Ne, 21Ne/22Ne and 20Ne/21Ne isotope ratios, and a low upper limit on 3He/4He, are in accord with calculations of nucleosynthesis in neon nova outbursts. Of these, the uniquely low 4He/20Ne and high 20Ne/22Ne ratios are the most diagnostic, reflecting the large predicted 20Ne abundances in the ejecta of such novae. The correspondence of measured Ne and He compositions in cometary matter with theoretical predictions is evidence for the presence of presolar grains from novae in the early solar system.Comment: As appeared in the Astrophysical Journa

Nova Outburst Modeling and Its Application to the Recurrent Nova Phenomenon

The thermonuclear runaway (TNR) theory for the cause of the common novae is reviewed. Numerical simulations of this theory were performed using an implicit hydrodynamic Lagrangian computer code. Relevant physical phenomena are explained with the simpler envelope-in-place calculations. Next the models that include accretion are discussed. The calculations agree very well with observations of common novae. The observational differences between common novae and recurrent novae are examined. We propose input parameters to the TNR model which can give the outburst characteristics of RS Ophiuchi and discuss the implications. This review is concluded with a brief discussion of two current topics in novae research: shear mixing on the white dwarf and Neon novae. 36 refs., 4 figs