Symbiotic Star T CrB as an Extreme SU UMa–type Dwarf Nova

T CrB is a symbiotic recurrent nova that exhibits quiescent and active phases between its classical nova eruptions. The statistical properties of these active phases have been poorly studied thus far. Because of that their nature remained unknown. Here we study statistical properties of the active p...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Krystian Iłkiewicz, Joanna Mikołajewska, Kiril A. Stoyanov
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2023-01-01
Series:The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ace9dc
Description
Summary:T CrB is a symbiotic recurrent nova that exhibits quiescent and active phases between its classical nova eruptions. The statistical properties of these active phases have been poorly studied thus far. Because of that their nature remained unknown. Here we study statistical properties of the active phases and show that they are consistent with outburst and superoutbursts observed in SU UMa–type dwarf novae. The recurrence time of these outbursts is consistent with theoretical predictions for similar systems. Moreover, the visual and X-ray evolution of the last active phase is consistent with a superoutburst. This suggests that T CrB is a dwarf nova with an extremely long orbital period, closely related to SU UMa dwarf novae. The similarities between the last superoutburst and the reported activity preceding the 1946 nova eruption may suggest that the next classical nova eruption in T CrB could be indeed soon expected.
ISSN:2041-8205