Target of Opportunity Observations of TOADS: Finding the Dust in Super-Outburst Ejecta

Details Target of Opportunity Observations of TOADS: Finding the Dust in Super-Outburst Ejecta Target of Opportunity Observations of TOADS: Finding the Dust in Super-Outburst Ejecta

Mar 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008sptz.prop50089h&link_type=abstract

Spitzer Proposal ID #50089

Physics

Scientific paper

Tremendous Outburst Amplitude Dwarf novae (TOADs) consist of a white dwarf primary star and an extremely low mass main sequence or brown dwarf-like secondary star. The latter fills its Roche lobe and transfers matter to the white dwarf through the inner Lagrange point into an accretion disk. TOADs undergo non-thermonuclear (i.e., disk instability) super-outbursts on timescales of decades. During the decline from super-outburst peak they display a characteristic dip in light curves at visible wavelengths, reminiscent of what is observed in slow classical (i.e., thermonuclear runaway) novae. In classical novae, the visible light dip is attributed to the formation of dust in the nova ejecta but, until now, the cause of the dip in TOAD light curves has remained unclear. In 2004, a previously unknown TOAD was discovered as it went into super-outburst, and our team was granted a Spitzer DDT program with which we have detected the likely formation of dust in the outburst ejecta. We now propose a Target of Opportunity program with Spitzer to observe an additional super-outbursting TOAD, in order to address the following questions: 1) Do all TOADs produce dust during their outbursts?; 2) What is the timescale for dust formation and dissipation?; 3) How much dust is produced during a super-outburst?; and 4) How does the dust production scale with the outburst amplitude? Spitzer is uniquely capable of detecting and characterizing the dust formed in the ejecta during super-outbursts and fundamentally changing the understanding of TOADs, their super-outbursts, and their contribution to the recycling of the interstellar medium.

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