We present new X-ray and optical spectra of the old nova CP Pup (nova Pup 1942) obtained with Chandra and the CTIO 4m telescope. The X-ray spectrum reveals a multi-temperature optically thin plasma reaching a maximum temperature of 36−16+19 keV absorbed by local complex neutral material. The time resolved optical spectroscopy confirms the presence of the ∼1.47 hr period, with cycle-to-cycle amplitude changes, as well as of an additional long term modulation which is suggestive either of a longer period or of non-Keplerian velocities in the emission line regions. These new observational facts add further support to CP Pup as a magnetic cataclysmic variable (mCV). We compare the mCV and the non-mCV scenarios and while we cannot conclude whether CP Pup is a long period system, all observational evidences point at an intermediate polar (IP) type CV.
@article{arxiv.1308.5175,
title = {On the nature of CP Pup},
author = {Elena Mason and Marina Orio and Koji Mukai and Antonio Bianchini and Domitilla de Martino and Francesco di Mille and Robert E. Williams and Timothy Abbot and Roberto de Propris},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1308.5175},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
Accepted for publication on MNRAS. 10 pages and 5 figures