Related papers: Modelling nova populations in galaxies
We have been proposing two evolutionary paths to Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), which are called the supersoft X-ray source (SSS) channel and the symbiotic channel, depending on the orbital separation just prior to an SN Ia explosion. The…
Only a handful of galaxies in the local Universe appear to be very young. We estimate the fraction of very young galaxies (VYGs), defined as those with more than half their stellar masses formed within the last Gyr. We fit non-parametric…
Accreting white dwarfs (WDs) with non-degenerate companions are expected to emit in soft X-rays and the UV, if accreted H-rich material burns stably. They are an important component of the unresolved emission of elliptical galaxies, and…
We investigate whether the recently-observed population of high-velocity white dwarfs can be derived from a population of binaries residing initially within the thin disk of the Galaxy. In particular we consider binaries where the primary…
Classical novae are the most common astrophysical thermonuclear explosions, occurring on the surfaces of white dwarf stars accreting gas from companions in binary star systems. Novae typically expel ~10^(-4) solar masses of material at…
Red novae or luminous red novae are a class of optical transients that have emerged over the past two decades. They occupy an intermediate luminosity regime between classical novae and supernovae and are characterized by cool, slowly…
We examine the properties of white dwarfs (WDs) accreting hydrogen-rich matter in and near the stable burning regime of accretion rates as modeled by time-dependent calculations done with Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics…
Astrometry from the Gaia mission has revealed a large population of white dwarf (WD) + main sequence (MS) binaries with periods of $100 - 1000\,$d. These systems have separations intermediate to predictions from standard binary evolution…
Elliptical galaxies are believed to consist of a single population of old stars formed together at an early epoch in the Universe, yet recent analyses of galaxy spectra seem to indicate the presence of significant younger populations of…
We present photometric and spectroscopic follow-up of a sample of extragalactic novae discovered by the Palomar 60-inch telescope during a search for "Fast Transients In Nearest Galaxies" (P60-FasTING). Designed as a fast cadence (1-day)…
[Abridged] Classical novae (CNe) represent the major class of supersoft X-ray sources (SSSs) in the central region of our neighbouring galaxy M31. We performed a dedicated monitoring of the M31 central region, aimed to detect SSS…
Symbiotic stars are the longest orbital period interacting binaries, where nova-like outbursts are generated by the accretion of a high mass loss rate red giant wind onto a white dwarf companion. Long-term photometric monitoring surveys…
I report on a large-scale search for the orbital periods (P) of most known nova systems, by looking for significant, coherent, and stable optical photometric modulation in two or more independent light curves taken mostly from the large…
In a sample of about 45,700 early-type galaxies extracted from SDSS, we find that the shape, normalization, and dispersion around the mean size-stellar mass relation is the same for young and old systems, provided the stellar mass is…
In this paper, the first of a series, we study the stellar dynamical and evolutionary processes leading to the formation of compact binaries containing white dwarfs in dense globular clusters. We examine the processes leading to the…
Spectroscopic studies of elliptical galaxies show that their stellar population ages, mean metallicity, and $\alpha$-enhancement traced by [Mg/Fe] all increase with galaxy stellar mass or velocity dispersion. We use one-zone galactic…
Hierarchical galaxy formation models make specific predictions concerning the relative assembly rates and star formation histories of spiral bulges and field ellipticals. Independently of the cosmological model and initial power spectrum of…
M31N 2017-01e is the second-fastest recurrent nova known, with a recurrence period of 2.5 years in the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). This system exhibits a unique combination of properties: a low outburst amplitude ($\sim3$ magnitude), starkly…
We examine the statistics of main-sequence / main-sequence, main-sequence / white-dwarf and white-dwarf / white-dwarf wide binaries at 10^2.5-10^4 AU separations in Gaia data. For binaries containing a white dwarf, we find a complex…
We investigate the properties of the stellar populations of model galaxies as a function of galaxy evolutionary history and angular momentum content. We use the new semi-analytic model presented in Tonini et al. (2016). This new model…