Letter to the Editor

Accretion in the recurrent nova T CrB: Linking the superactive state to the predicted outburst^⋆

¹ Institute of Astronomy and National Astronomical Observatory, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Tsarigradsko Shose 72, 1784 Sofia, Bulgaria
e-mail: rkz@astro.bas.bg
² Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, IC2, 149 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool L3 5RF, UK
³ Office of the Vice Chancellor, Botswana International University of Science and Technology, Private Bag 16, Palapye, Botswana
⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shumen University “Episkop Konstantin Preslavski”, 115 Universitetska Str., 9700 Shumen, Bulgaria

Received: 24 October 2023
Accepted: 5 December 2023

Abstract

Context. T CrB (NOVA CrB 1946) is a famous recurrent nova with a recurrence timescale of 80 years.

Aims. We aim to estimate the colours, luminosity, and mass-accretion rate for T CrB (NOVA CrB 1946) during and after the superactive state.

Methods. We performed and analysed UBV photometry of the recurrent nova T CrB.

Results. For the hot component of T CrB, we find average dereddened colours of (U − B)₀ = −0.70 ± 0.08 and (B − V)₀ = 0.23 ± 0.06, which correspond to an effective temperature of 9400 ± 500 K and an optical luminosity of 40 − 110 L_⊙ during the superactive state (2016–2022). After the end of the superactive state, the hot component became significantly redder, (U − B)₀ ≈ −0.3 and (B − V)₀ ≈ 0.6 in August 2023, and its luminosity decreased markedly to 20 − 25 L_⊙ in April–May 2023, and to 8 − 9 L_⊙ in August 2023. The total mass accreted during the superactive state from 2014 to 2023 is ∼2 × 10⁻⁷ M_⊙.

Conclusions. This is a significant fraction of the mass required to cause a thermonuclear runaway (TNR). Overall our results support a model in which a large accretion disc acts as a reservoir with increased accretion rate onto the central white dwarf during disc high states, ultimately leading to a TNR explosion, which now seems to be imminent.