Classical novae

Classical nova (CN) and dwarf nova (DN) systems have the same binary components (a low-mass main sequence star and a white dwarf) and the same orbital periods. An important question that therefore arises is are these systems really different (and if so, what is the fundamental difference ) or, are these the same systems, metamorphosing from one class to the other ... 

Abstract We describe a mechanism that promises to explain how classical nova outbursts take place on white dwarfs of 1 M0 or less and for accretion rates of 4 x 10 M0 yr- or greater. 

Observations suggest that the average mass of white dwarfs in classical nova systems... 

Some 26A1 may also be produced by the classical nova explosions. In these the entire star does not explode rather, about 0.0001 solar masses of skin on a white dwarf experiences a thermonuclear runaway, some fraction of which is ejected in the nova outburst. This ejecta should contain live26 Al, especially from a subset of Mg-rich novae. Magnesium is the parent from which26 Al is created during the explosion. Dust grains that condense Al in the ejecta from the novae will carry excess 2 Mg from this initial content of26 Al, as Fred Hoyle and I pointed out in 1975-76. 

JOSE, J. 2002 Nuclear ashes Reviewing thirty years of nucleosynthesis in classical novae. AIP Conference Proc. 637, 104. 

It was not until 1934 that Baade and Zwicky succeeded in making a clear distinction between the classic and commonly observed novas (occurring at a rate of about 400 per year in our own galaxy) and the much rarer supernovas. Lred Zwicky s systematic searches between 1956 and 1963 resulted in the discovery of 136 supernovas. 

Pradhan, T. The Photon, Nova Science Publishers, Inc., Huntington, NY, 2001. Render. D.J. Photonics—Fast Track for Tomorrow s Communications, AT T Technology, II, (1). 1987. A classic reference. 

U. Burghaus, J. Stephan, L. Vattuone and J.M. Rogowska, A Practical Guide to Kinetic Monte Carlo Simulations and Classical Molecular Dynamics Simulations An Example Book, Nova Science Publishers Inc., Hauppauge, NY, 2006. 

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