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. 2022 May;605(7909):248-250.
doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-04635-y. Epub 2022 May 11.

X-ray detection of a nova in the fireball phase

Ole König  1 , Jörn Wilms  2 , Riccardo Arcodia  3 , Thomas Dauser  4 , Konrad Dennerl  3 , Victor Doroshenko  5 , Frank Haberl  3 , Steven Hämmerich  4 , Christian Kirsch  4 , Ingo Kreykenbohm  4 , Maximilian Lorenz  4 , Adam Malyali  3 , Andrea Merloni  3 , Arne Rau  3 , Thomas Rauch  5 , Gloria Sala  6   7 , Axel Schwope  8 , Valery Suleimanov  5 , Philipp Weber  4 , Klaus Werner  5
Affiliations

X-ray detection of a nova in the fireball phase

Ole König et al. Nature. 2022 May.

Abstract

Novae are caused by runaway thermonuclear burning in the hydrogen-rich envelopes of accreting white dwarfs, which leads to a rapid expansion of the envelope and the ejection of most of its mass1,2. Theory has predicted the existence of a 'fireball' phase following directly on from the runaway fusion, which should be observable as a short, bright and soft X-ray flash before the nova becomes visible in the optical3-5. Here we report observations of a bright and soft X-ray flash associated with the classical Galactic nova YZ Reticuli 11 h before its 9 mag optical brightening. No X-ray source was detected 4 h before and after the event, constraining the duration of the flash to shorter than 8 h. In agreement with theoretical predictions4,6-8, the source's spectral shape is consistent with a black-body of 3.27+0.11-0.33 × 105 K (28.2+0.9-2.8 eV), or a white dwarf atmosphere, radiating at the Eddington luminosity, with a photosphere that is only slightly larger than a typical white dwarf.

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References

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