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Triggering micronovae through magnetically confined accretion flows in accreting white dwarfs

Scaringi, S; Groot, PJ; Knigge, C; Lasota, J-P; de Martino, D; Cavecchi, Y; Buckley, DAH; Camisassa, ME

Triggering micronovae through magnetically confined accretion flows in accreting white dwarfs Thumbnail


Authors

PJ Groot

C Knigge

J-P Lasota

D de Martino

Y Cavecchi

DAH Buckley

ME Camisassa



Abstract

Rapid bursts at optical wavelengths have been reported for several accreting white dwarfs, where the optical luminosity can increase by up to a factor 30 in less than an hour fading on timescales of several hours, and where the energy release can reach ≈1039 erg (“micronovae”). Several systems have also shown these bursts to be semi-recurrent on timescales of days to months and the temporal profiles of these bursts strongly resemble those observed in Type-I X-ray bursts in accreting neutron stars. It has been suggested that the observed micronovae may be the result of localised thermonuclear runaways on the surface layers of accreting white dwarfs. Here we propose a model where magnetic confinement of the accretion stream on to accreting magnetic white dwarfs may trigger localised thermonuclear runaways. The proposed model to trigger micronovae appears to favour magnetic systems with both high white dwarf masses and high mass-transfer rates.

Citation

Scaringi, S., Groot, P., Knigge, C., Lasota, J., de Martino, D., Cavecchi, Y., …Camisassa, M. (2022). Triggering micronovae through magnetically confined accretion flows in accreting white dwarfs. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 514(1), L11-L15. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slac042

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 12, 2022
Online Publication Date Apr 20, 2022
Publication Date 2022-07
Deposit Date Apr 28, 2022
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Electronic ISSN 1745-3933
Publisher Oxford University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 514
Issue 1
Pages L11-L15
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slac042
Related Public URLs https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.09073

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Copyright Statement
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. ©: 2021 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.






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