Smith, D.A., Dhillon, V.S. orcid.org/0000-0003-4236-9642 and Marsh, T.R. (1998) The mass of the white dwarf in the old nova BT Mon. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 296 (3). pp. 465-482. ISSN 0035-8711
Abstract
We present spectrophotometry of the eclipsing old nova BT Mon (Nova Mon 1939). By detecting weak absorption features from the secondary star, we find its radial velocity semi-amplitude to be K_R = 205+/-5 km/s and its rotational velocity to be vsin i = 138+/-5 km/s. We also measure the radial velocity semi-amplitude of the primary star to be K_R = 170+/-10 km/s. From these parameters we obtain a mass of 1.04+/-0.06 M_sun for the white dwarf primary star and a mass of 0.87+/-0.06 M_sun for the G8V secondary star. The inclination of the system is found to be 82.2+/-3.2 deg and we estimate that the system lies at a distance of 1700+/-300pc. The high mass of the white dwarf and our finding that BT Mon was probably a fast nova together constitute a new piece of evidence in favour of the thermonuclear runaway model of classical nova outbursts. The emission lines are single peaked throughout the orbital cycle, showing absorption around phase 0.5, high velocity S-wave components and large phase offsets in their radial velocity curves. In each of these respects, BT Mon is similar to the SW Sex stars. We also find quasi-periodic flaring in the trailed spectra, which makes BT Mon a candidate intermediate polar.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 1998 RAS. Reproduced in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | accretion, accretion discs; binaries, eclipsing; binaries, spectroscopic; stars, individual, BT Mon; novae, cataclysmic variables |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Physics and Astronomy (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 06 Oct 2017 09:57 |
Last Modified: | 06 Oct 2017 09:58 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-8711.1998.00743.x |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1046/j.1365-8711.1998.00743.x |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:122074 |