Mira B Rejuvenated

Abstract

Recent ultraviolet spectra from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellites demonstrate that UV line and continuum fluxes observed from Mira B are increasing back towards the levels that the International Ultraviolet Explorer observed in 1979-1980 and 1990-1995, after having been found in a very low state by HST and FUSE in 1999-2001. The UV emission is associated with accretion of material onto Mira B from Mira A's massive wind, so the variability is presumably due to variations in accretion rate. From wind absorption features, we estimate a Mira B mass loss rate of 2.5e-12 M_sun/yr, indicating that Mira B's wind has increased in strength along with the accretion rate. The UV variability may be associated with a previously reported 14-year periodicity in Mira B's optical emission.

12 pages, 3 figures, AASTEX v5.0, accepted by ApJ

References in corpus (6)

• X-ray Outburst in Mira A
• Analysis of H2 Emission from Mira B in UV Spectra from HST
• First Resolved Images of the Mira AB Symbiotic Binary at Centimeter Wavelengths
• Molecular Hydrogen Emission Lines in Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer Observations of Mira B
• Studying the Pulsation of Mira Variables in the Ultraviolet
• Detection of H2 Emission from Mira B in UV Spectra from the Hubble Space Telescope

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• Born Again Protoplanetary Disk Around Mira B
• Long-Period Variability in o Ceti
• A pre-explosion extended effervescent zone around core collapse supernova progenitors
• Strong Variable Ultraviolet Emission from Y Gem: Accretion Activity in an AGB Star with a Binary Companion?
• A pre-explosion effervescent zone for the circumstellar material in SN 2023ixf
• A Phenomenological Model for the Extended Zone Above AGB Stars
• Mira Ceti, atypical archetype
• Revealing new features of the millimetre emission of the circumbinary envelope of Mira Ceti