English

Chandra observations of nova KT Eridani in outburst

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 2021-08-10 v1

Abstract

We analyse here four observations of nova KT Eri (Nova Eri 2009) done with the Chandra High Resolution Camera Spectrometer (HRC-S) and the Low Energy Transmission Grating (LETG) in 2010, from day 71 until day 159 after the optical maximum, in the luminous supersoft X-ray phase. The spectrum presents many absorption features with a large range of velocity, from a few hundred km s1^{-1} to 3100 km s1^{-1} in the same observation, and a few prominent emission features, generally redshifted by more than 2000 km s1^{-1}. Although the uncertainty on the distance and the WD luminosity from the approximate fit do not let us rule out a larger absolute luminosity than our best estimate of 5×1037\simeq 5 \times 10^{37} erg s1^{-1}, it is likely that we observed only up to \simeq40% of the surface of the white dwarf, which may have been partially hidden by clumpy ejecta. Our fit with atmospheric models indicate a massive white dwarf in the 1.15-1.25 M_\odot range. A thermal spectrum originating in the ejecta appears to be superimposed on the white dwarf spectrum. It is complex, has more than one component and may be due to a mixture of photoionized and shock ionized outflowing material. We confirm that the \simeq35 s oscillation that was reported earlier, was detected in the last observation, done on day 159 of the outburst.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2108.03577,
  title  = {Chandra observations of nova KT Eridani in outburst},
  author = {Songpeng Pei and Marina Orio and Jan-Uwe Ness and Nataly Ospina},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2108.03577},
  year   = {2021}
}