Swift Observations of Optical Novae
Abstract
Swift has been able to revolutionise our knowledge of of the high energy emission from novae by virtue of its flexible scheduling, its large target of opportunity program, and its sensitive X-ray and optical/UV telescopes. Swift has observed and detected in X-rays tens of novae. The fastest observations started within a day of outburst discovery. There have been extensive observing campaigns on five recent novae, which have resulted in the discovery of a wealth of new phenomena. Many novae show strong and variable super-soft emission from the white dwarf photosphere, which we see as a blackbody-like spectrum below 1 keV. This may emerge within a month or after hundreds of days after the outburst, and may last a couple of months to over 12 years. The novae also show a variety of X-ray to UV behaviours; periodic, secular and apparently random X-ray intensity variations in the super-soft component provide hints to the mass and nature of the very hot white dwarf.
- Publication:
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AAS/High Energy Astrophysics Division #11
- Pub Date:
- March 2010
- Bibcode:
- 2010HEAD...11.2802O