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THE EXPANDING BIPOLAR SHELL OF THE HELIUM NOVA V445 PUPPIS

P. A. Woudt et al 2009 ApJ 706 738-746   doi: 10.1088/0004-637X/706/1/738  Help

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P. A. Woudt1, D. Steeghs2,8, M. Karovska3, B. Warner1,9, P. J. Groot4, G. Nelemans4, G. H. A. Roelofs3, T. R. Marsh2, T. Nagayama5, D. P. Smits6 and T. O'Brien7
1 Department of Astronomy, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
2 Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK
3 Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-1516, USA
4 Department of Astrophysics, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9010, 6500 GL, Nijmegen, Netherlands
5 Department of Astronomy, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa-Oiwake-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
6 Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of South Africa, UNISA, Pretoria 0003, South Africa
7 University of Manchester, Jodrell Bank Observatory, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK11 9DL, UK
8 Also at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-1516, USA.
9 Also at School of Physics and Astronomy, Southampton University, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK.
E-mail: Patrick.Woudt@uct.ac.za

ABSTRACT. From multi-epoch adaptive optics imaging and integral field unit spectroscopy, we report the discovery of an expanding and narrowly confined bipolar shell surrounding the helium nova V445 Puppis (Nova Puppis 2000). An equatorial dust disc obscures the nova remnant, and the outflow is characterized by a large polar outflow velocity of 6720 ± 650 km s–1 and knots moving at even larger velocities of 8450 ± 570 km s–1. We derive an expansion parallax distance of 8.2 ± 0.5 kpc and deduce a pre-outburst luminosity of the underlying binary of log L/L sun = 4.34 ± 0.36. The derived luminosity suggests that V445 Puppis probably contains a massive white dwarf accreting at high rate from a helium star companion making it part of a population of binary stars that potentially lead to supernova Ia explosions due to accumulation of helium-rich material on the surface of a massive white dwarf.

Key words: instrumentation: adaptive optics; novae, cataclysmic variables; stars: individual (V445 Puppis)

Print publication: Issue 1 (2009 November 20)
Received 2009 May 29, accepted for publication 2009 October 9
Published 2009 November 5

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