Evidence for a New Dust Creation Paradigm in Recurrent Novae: Milliarcsecond Resolution Mid‐Infrared Observations of RS Ophiuchi

Danchi, W. C.; Barry, R. K.; Traub, W. A.; Sokoloski, J. L.; Wisniewski, J. P.; Serabyn, E.; Kuchner, M. J.

doi:doi:10.1063/1.3099251

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Evidence for a New Dust Creation Paradigm in Recurrent Novae: Milliarcsecond Resolution Mid‐Infrared Observations of RS Ophiuchi

AIP Conf. Proc. 1094, pp. 856-859; doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3099251 (4 pages)

COOL STARS, STELLAR SYSTEMS AND THE SUN: Proceedings of the 15th Cambridge Workshop on Cool Stars, Stellar Systems and the Sun

Date: 21–25 July 2008

Location: St. Andrews (Scotland)

W. C. Danchi¹, R. K. Barry^1,2, W. A. Traub³, J. L. Sokoloski⁴, J. P. Wisniewski¹, E. Serabyn³, and M. J. Kuchner¹

¹NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics, Greenbelt, MD 20771
²Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218
³Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109
⁴Columbia University, Department of Physics, NY 10027

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Abstract

Related Content

We report observations of the nova RS Ophiuchi (RS Oph) using the Keck Interferometer Nuller (KIN), approximately 3.8 days following the most recent outburst of 2006 February 12. These observations represent the first scientific results from the KIN, which operates in N‐band from 8 to 12.5 μm in a nulling mode. In this mode the stellar light itself is suppressed by a destructive fringe, effectively enhancing the contrast of any nearby (constructive fringe) source, which in this case is the circumstellar material located near the star. By fitting the unique KIN data, we have obtained an angular size of the mid‐infrared continuum of 6.2±0.6, 4.0±0.4, or 5.4±0.6 mas for disk, gaussian (FWHM), and shell profiles, respectively. The data show evidence of enhanced neutral atomic hydrogen emission and atomic metals including silicon located in the inner spatial regime (<5 AU) near the white dwarf (WD) relative to the outer regime. There are also nebular emission lines and evidence of hot silicate dust in the outer spatial region, centered at about 17 AU from the WD that are not found in the inner regime. Our evidence suggests that these features have been excited by the nova flash in the outer spatial regime before the blast wave reached these regions, in support a model in which the dust appears to be present between outbursts. The present results are consistent with a unifying model of the system that includes an increase in density in the plane of the orbit of the two stars created by a spiral shock wave caused by the motion of the stars through the cool wind of the red giant star.

KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

white dwarfs, interferometry, giant stars

PACS

97.20.Rp

Faint blue stars (including blue stragglers), white dwarfs, degenerate stars, nuclei of planetary nebulae
95.55.Br

Astrometric and interferometric instruments
97.20.Li

Giant and subgiant stars