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  • IM Normae: The Death Spiral...
    Patterson, Joseph; Kemp, Jonathan; Monard, Berto; Myers, Gordon; de Miguel, Enrique; Hambsch, Franz-Josef; Warhurst, Paul; Rea, Robert; Dvorak, Shawn; Menzies, Kenneth; Vanmunster, Tonny; Roberts, George; Campbell, Tut; Starkey, Donn; Ulowetz, Joseph; Rock, John; Seargeant, Jim; Boardman, James; Lemay, Damien; Cejudo, David; Knigge, Christian

    Astrophysical journal/˜The œAstrophysical journal, 01/2022, Letnik: 924, Številka: 1
    Journal Article

    Abstract We present a study of the orbital light curves of the recurrent nova IM Normae since its 2002 outburst. The broad “eclipses” recur with a 2.46 hr period, which increases on a timescale of 1.28(16) × 10 6 yr. Under the assumption of conservative mass transfer, this suggests a rate near 10 −7 M ⊙ yr −1 , and this agrees with the estimated accretion rate of the postnova, based on our estimate of luminosity. IM Nor appears to be a close match to the famous recurrent nova T Pyxidis. Both stars appear to have very high accretion rates, sufficient to drive the recurrent-nova events. Both have quiescent light curves, which suggest strong heating of the low-mass secondary, and very wide orbital minima, which suggest obscuration of a large “corona” around the primary. And both have very rapid orbital period increases, as expected from a short-period binary with high mass transfer from the low-mass component. These two stars may represent a final stage of nova—and cataclysmic variable—evolution, in which irradiation-driven winds drive a high rate of mass transfer, thereby evaporating the donor star in a paroxysm of nova outbursts.