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Triggering micronovae through magnetically confined accretion flows in accreting white dwarfs

Triggering micronovae through magnetically confined accretion flows in accreting white dwarfs
Triggering micronovae through magnetically confined accretion flows in accreting white dwarfs

Rapid bursts at optical wavelengths have been reported for several accreting white dwarfs. In these bursts, the optical luminosity can increase by up to a factor of 30 in less than an hour, before fading on time-scales of several hours, and the energy release can reach ~1039 erg ('micronovae'). Several systems have also shown these bursts to be semirecurrent on time-scales of days to months, and the temporal profiles of these bursts strongly resemble those observed in Type-I X-ray bursts in accreting neutron stars. It has been suggested that the observed micronovae may be the result of localized thermonuclear runaways in the surface layers of accreting white dwarfs. Here we propose a model in which the magnetic confinement of accretion streams on to the accreting magnetic white dwarf may trigger localized thermonuclear runaways. The model proposed to trigger micronovae appears to favour magnetic systems with both a high white dwarf mass and a high mass-transfer rate.

magnetic fields, stars: novae, cataclysmic variables, transients: novae
1365-2966
L11–L15
Scaringi, S.
88701970-a1b9-41fe-bf55-886716ee3374
Groot, P. J.
6e5c3d50-c4a7-4f4b-a136-c5f85080f7c1
Knigge, C.
ac320eec-631a-426e-b2db-717c8bf7857e
Lasota, J. -P.
47fcca7a-1082-415e-94e0-df546c4f49fc
Martino, D. de
d918a7ed-1d6d-4fe3-b30e-917d14916ac0
Cavecchi, Y.
939cba7d-c099-4d5a-a962-1fee916ea176
Buckley, D. A. H.
2b82e4e2-d175-4cb3-9868-46b13f4f890c
Camisassa, M. E.
01413f07-e2e5-4ad1-8c1c-00bc611d94db
Scaringi, S.
88701970-a1b9-41fe-bf55-886716ee3374
Groot, P. J.
6e5c3d50-c4a7-4f4b-a136-c5f85080f7c1
Knigge, C.
ac320eec-631a-426e-b2db-717c8bf7857e
Lasota, J. -P.
47fcca7a-1082-415e-94e0-df546c4f49fc
Martino, D. de
d918a7ed-1d6d-4fe3-b30e-917d14916ac0
Cavecchi, Y.
939cba7d-c099-4d5a-a962-1fee916ea176
Buckley, D. A. H.
2b82e4e2-d175-4cb3-9868-46b13f4f890c
Camisassa, M. E.
01413f07-e2e5-4ad1-8c1c-00bc611d94db

Scaringi, S., Groot, P. J., Knigge, C., Lasota, J. -P., Martino, D. de, Cavecchi, Y., Buckley, D. A. H. and Camisassa, M. E. (2022) Triggering micronovae through magnetically confined accretion flows in accreting white dwarfs. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 514 (1), L11–L15. (doi:10.1093/mnrasl/slac042).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Rapid bursts at optical wavelengths have been reported for several accreting white dwarfs. In these bursts, the optical luminosity can increase by up to a factor of 30 in less than an hour, before fading on time-scales of several hours, and the energy release can reach ~1039 erg ('micronovae'). Several systems have also shown these bursts to be semirecurrent on time-scales of days to months, and the temporal profiles of these bursts strongly resemble those observed in Type-I X-ray bursts in accreting neutron stars. It has been suggested that the observed micronovae may be the result of localized thermonuclear runaways in the surface layers of accreting white dwarfs. Here we propose a model in which the magnetic confinement of accretion streams on to the accreting magnetic white dwarf may trigger localized thermonuclear runaways. The model proposed to trigger micronovae appears to favour magnetic systems with both a high white dwarf mass and a high mass-transfer rate.

Text
2204.09073v1 - Accepted Manuscript
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Accepted/In Press date: 12 April 2022
Published date: 1 July 2022
Additional Information: Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society.
Keywords: magnetic fields, stars: novae, cataclysmic variables, transients: novae

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 457962
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/457962
ISSN: 1365-2966
PURE UUID: c9d66894-ebb7-4eca-b56a-f33952e3d1ae
ORCID for Y. Cavecchi: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-6447-3603

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Date deposited: 23 Jun 2022 17:26
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 17:48

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Contributors

Author: S. Scaringi
Author: P. J. Groot
Author: C. Knigge
Author: J. -P. Lasota
Author: D. de Martino
Author: Y. Cavecchi ORCID iD
Author: D. A. H. Buckley
Author: M. E. Camisassa

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