Optical Flickering of the recurrent nova RS Ophiuchi: amplitude - flux relation

Abstract

We report observations of the flickering variability of the symbiotic recurrent nova RS~Oph at quiescence in five bands ($UBVRI$). We find evidence of a correlation between the peak-to-peak flickering amplitude ($\Delta F$) and the average flux of the hot component ($F_{\mathrm{av}}$). The correlation is highly significant, with a correlation coefficient of 0.85 and a $p$-value of~$\sim 10^{-20}$. Combining the data from all wavebands, we find a dependence of the type $\Delta F\propto F_{\mathrm{av}}^k$, with power-law index $k=1.02\pm 0.04$ for the $UBVRI$ flickering of RS~Oph. Thus, the relationship between the amplitude of variability and the average flux of the hot component is consistent with linearity. The rms amplitude of flickering is on average 8 per cent ($\pm 2$ per cent) of $F_{\mathrm{av}}$. The detected correlation is similar to that found in accreting black holes/neutron stars and cataclysmic variables. The possible reasons are briefly discussed. The data are available upon request from the authors.

accepted: MNRAS 450, 3958-3965 (2015)

References in corpus (9)

• X-Ray Emitting Blast Wave from the Recurrent Nova RS Ophiuchi
• The Super-Soft X-ray Phase of Nova RS Ophiuchi 2006
• Spectroscopic orbits and variations of RS Oph
• Constraints on the Progenitor System of the Type Ia Supernova 2014J from Pre-Explosion Hubble Space Telescope Imaging
• Resumption of mass accretion in RS Oph
• The rms-flux relation in accreting white dwarfs: another nova-like variable and the first dwarf nova
• Metallicity and effective temperature of the secondary of RS Oph
• Rms-flux relation and fast optical variability simulations of the nova-like system MV Lyr
• Multiwavelength modelling the SED of supersoft X-ray sources III. RS Ophiuchi: The supersoft X-ray phase and beyond

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Active phases and flickering of a symbiotic recurrent nova T CrB
• Intra-night variability of the blazar CTA 102 during its 2012 and 2016 giant outbursts
• A Monte Carlo Study of Flux Ratios of Raman Scattered O~VI Features at 6825 Å and 7082 Å in Symbiotic Stars
• Flickering returns as RS Oph reestablishes quiescent conditions following its 2021 nova outburst
• XMM-Newton observation of V1504 Cyg as a probe for the existence of an evaporated corona
• A search for new symbiotic stars in the Milky Way: Using machine learning techniques applied to photometric databases
• Searching for similarities in the accretion flow of Seyfert 1 galaxies and cataclysmic variables based on flare profiles of IRAS 13224-3809, 1H 0707-495, Mrk 766 and MV Lyr