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Extraordinary luminous soft x-ray transient MAXI J0158-744 as an ignition of a nova on a very massive o-Ne white dwarf

Morii, M; Serino, M; Mihara, T; Sugizaki, M; Matsuoka, M; Tomida, H; Kimura, M; ... Tsunemi, H; + view all (2013) Extraordinary luminous soft x-ray transient MAXI J0158-744 as an ignition of a nova on a very massive o-Ne white dwarf. Astrophysical Journal , 779 (2) 10.1088/0004-637X/779/2/118. Green open access

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Abstract

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 s < ΔTd < 1.10 × 10 s), a rapid rise (<5.5 × 10 s), and a huge peak luminosity of 2 × 10 erg s 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.

Type: Article
Title: Extraordinary luminous soft x-ray transient MAXI J0158-744 as an ignition of a nova on a very massive o-Ne white dwarf
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/779/2/118
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/779/2/118
Language: English
Additional information: © 2013. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Space and Climate Physics
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1462513
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