Detection of supersoft x-ray emission from gq muscae nine years after a nova outburst

ABSTRACT GQ MUS (Nova Muscae 1983) was the first classical nova from which X-rays were detected during outburst1'2. Those Exosat observations were consistent with thermonuclear burning

on the surface of a white dwarf emitting 1037–1038 erg s−1 at (3.0–3.5) × 105 K or with shocked circumstellar material emitting 1035 erg s−1 by thermal bremsstrahlung at 107 K. Here we

report the detection by the Rosat satellite3 of GQ Mus as a very soft black-body-like source. If the observed X-ray flux is being radiated at the Eddington luminosity (1038 erg s−1) from a

one-solar-mass white dwarf, its effective temperature must be ∼3.5 × 105 K. We conclude that the white dwarf is burning hydrogen-rich material near its surface. GQ Mus is, however, the only

one of 26 recent novae detected in the all-sky Rosat survey; this suggests that either most novae eject all their accreted material during outburst, or GQ Mus is now burning recently

accreted material. GQ Mus appears identical to the supersoft X-ray sources CAL83, CAL87 and RX J0527.8–6954 (ref. 4), lending support to the suggestion that these sources are white dwarfs

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astr. Soc._ 233, 51–63 (1988). Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar  Download references AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison,

1150 University Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, USA Hakki Ögelman * Max-Planck-lnstitut fur Extraterrestrische Physik, D-8046, Garching, Germany Hakki Ögelman * Osservatorio Astronomico

di Torino, 1-10025, Pino Torinese (TO), Italy Marina Orio * Landessternwarte, Konigstuhl, D-6900, Heidelberg, Germany Joachim Krautter * Department of Physics and Astronomy, Arizona State

University, Tempe, Arizona, 85287, USA Sumner Starrfield Authors * Hakki Ögelman View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Marina Orio View

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Ögelman, H., Orio, M., Krautter, J. _et al._ Detection of supersoft X-ray emission from GQ Muscae nine years after a nova outburst. _Nature_ 361, 331–333 (1993).

https://doi.org/10.1038/361331a0 Download citation * Received: 21 October 1992 * Accepted: 21 December 1992 * Issue Date: 28 January 1993 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/361331a0 SHARE THIS

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