Swift Observations of Shock Evolution in RS Ophiuchi

TL;DR

This paper presents Swift X-ray observations of RS Ophiuchi's nova outburst, revealing shock evolution and complex emission components over time, with detailed analysis contrasting early and late-time behaviors.

Contribution

It provides the first extensive Swift dataset on RS Oph, offering new insights into shock dynamics and circumstellar interactions during nova outbursts.

Findings

Rapidly evolving shocks dominate early X-ray emission.

Multiple emission components appear at late times.

No evidence found for shock break-out in the data.

Abstract

Our \textit{Swift} observations of RS Oph form an unprecedented X-ray dataset to undertake investigations of both the central source and the interaction of the outburst ejecta with the circumstellar environment. Over the first month, the XRT data are dominated by emission from rapidly evolving shocks. We discuss the differences in derived parameters from those found for \textit{RXTE} at early times and the evolution of the X-ray emission to much later times. It is apparent that at late times several emission components are present. We find no strong evidence of the proposed shock break-out in our data.