The modeling of IRAS detections of classical novae and related objects

Miscellaneous · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:6700242

Harrison, T E

Data on classical novae were extracted from the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) database, and models were developed to explain the resulting detections. Data were also extracted on objects which have behavior similar to classical novae. For the 105 novae or suspected novae in the sample, detections are reported for 53 of them. Eleven of these appear to be false detections of the galactic cirrus. To explain the remaining detections, several computer programs were developed that model the ejected gas using published data on the conditions expected in post-outburst nova ejecta. The result of these programs is a prediction of the far-infrared line spectrum emitted by the gas ejected in the nova explosion. A number of the detections made by IRAS are explainable this way. In several cases, emission from dust or free-free processes can be invoked to explain the IRAS data. Information was also extracted from the IRAS database for 116 objects related to novae. Such objects as dwarf novae, nova-like variables, symbiotic stars and cataclysmic planetary nebulae are included as related objects. Many of these objects were detected (93), and the resultant energy distributions were compared to those found for novae to determine if there are similarities among the different classes of cataclysmic variables. The source of the infrared energy for the dwarf novae and nova-like variables remains difficult to explain.

• Research Organization: Minnesota Univ., Minneapolis, MN (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6700242
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Ph.D. Thesis
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
NOVAE
STAR MODELS
COMPUTER CODES
COSMIC DUST
ENERGY SPECTRA
INFRARED RADIATION
PLANETARY NEBULAE
SYMBIOTIC STARS
THEORETICAL DATA
DATA
DUSTS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ERUPTIVE VARIABLE STARS
INFORMATION
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NEBULAE
NUMERICAL DATA
RADIATIONS
SPECTRA
STARS
VARIABLE STARS
640102* - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Stars & Quasi-Stellar
Radio & X-Ray Sources