Extraordinary luminous soft X-ray transient MAXI J0158–744 as an ignition of a nova on a very massive O-Ne white dwarf
- MAXI Team, Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198 (Japan)
- ISS Science Project Office, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 2-1-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8505 (Japan)
- Department of Physics, Nihon University, 1-8-14 Surugadai, Chiyoda, Tokyo 101-8308 (Japan)
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH (United Kingdom)
- International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845 (Australia)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-3800 (United States)
- Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT (United Kingdom)
- Department of Astronomy, Kyoto University, Oiwake-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502 (Japan)
- Department of Physics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Ookayama 2-12-1, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8551 (Japan)
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
We present the observation of an extraordinary luminous soft X-ray transient, MAXI J0158–744, by the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) on 2011 November 11. This transient is characterized by a soft X-ray spectrum, a short duration (1.3 × 10{sup 3} s < ΔT{sub d} < 1.10 × 10{sup 4} s), a rapid rise (<5.5 × 10{sup 3} s), and a huge peak luminosity of 2 × 10{sup 40} erg s{sup –1} in 0.7-7.0 keV band. With Swift observations and optical spectroscopy from the Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System, we confirmed that the transient is a nova explosion, on a white dwarf in a binary with a Be star, located near the Small Magellanic Cloud. An early turn-on of the super-soft X-ray source (SSS) phase (<0.44 days), the short SSS phase duration of about one month, and a 0.92 keV neon emission line found in the third MAXI scan, 1296 s after the first detection, suggest that the explosion involves a small amount of ejecta and is produced on an unusually massive O-Ne white dwarf close to, or possibly over, the Chandrasekhar limit. We propose that the huge luminosity detected with MAXI was due to the fireball phase, a direct manifestation of the ignition of the thermonuclear runaway process in a nova explosion.
- OSTI ID:
- 22348454
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 779, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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