Sudden and Steady Orbital Period Changes Across the Classical Nova Eruptions of DQ Her and BT Mon

Abstract

I report two new measures of the sudden change in the orbital period ($P$) across the nova eruption ($\Delta$P) and the steady period change in quiescence ($\dot{P}$) for classical novae (CNe) DQ Her and BT Mon. The fractional changes ($\Delta$P/P) in parts-per-million (ppm) are $-$4.46$\pm$0.03 for DQ Her and +39.6$\pm$0.5 for BT Mon. For BT Mon, the $\Delta$P/P value is not large enough (i.e., $>$1580 ppm) to allow for Hibernation in this system. The {\it negative} $\Delta$P/P for DQ Her is a confident counterexample of the Hibernation model for the evolution of cataclysmic variables. Further, published models of period changes by nova eruptions do not allow for such a negative value, so some additional mechanism is required, with this perhaps being due to asymmetric ejection of material. My program has also measured the first long-term $\dot{P}$ for CNe, with 0.00$\pm$0.02 for DQ Her and $-$2.3$\pm$0.1 for BT Mon, all with units of $10^{-11}$ days/cycle. These can be directly compared to the predictions of the Magnetic Braking model, where the long-term average $\dot{P}$ is a single universal function of $P$. The predicted values are -0.027 for DQ Her and -0.33 for BT Mon. For both novae, the measured $\dot{P}$ is significantly far from the predictions for Magnetic Braking. Further, the observed $\Delta$P for BT Mon imposes an additional {\it positive} period change of +0.60$\times$10${}^{-11}$ days/cycle when averaged over the eruption cycle, so this system actually has a long-term {\it rise} in $P$.

arXiv commentMNRAS in press. Companion paper gives results for RR Pic and HR Del, plus overview and broad conclusions for 6 nova systems

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