The Red Nova-like Variable in M31 - A Blue Candidate in Quiescence

TL;DR

This study investigates the nature of the M31-RV red nova-like variable, testing whether it is a mergeburst or an old nova, by analyzing archival Hubble data and comparing observed properties with theoretical models.

Contribution

The paper provides observational evidence that the M31-RV remnant is consistent with an old nova rather than a mergeburst, challenging certain models of red novae.

Findings

The remnant remains too hot to be a mergeburst.

The object behaves like an old nova on a low-mass white dwarf.

Future observations could clarify the nature of similar objects.

Abstract

M31-RV was an extraordinarily luminous (~10^6 Lsun) eruptive variable, displaying very cool temperatures (roughly 1000 Kelvins) as it faded. The photometric behavior of M31-RV (and several other very red novae, i.e. luminous eruptive red variables) has led to several models of this apparently new class of astrophysical object. One of the most detailed models is that of "mergebursts": hypothetical mergers of close binary stars. These are predicted to rival or exceed the brightest classical novae in luminosity, but to be much cooler and redder than classical novae, and to become slowly hotter and bluer as they age. This prediction suggests two stringent and definitive tests of the mergeburst hypothesis. First, there should always be a cool red remnant, and NOT a hot blue remnant at the site of such an outburst. Second, the inflated envelope of a mergeburst event should be slowly contracting, hence it must display a slowly rising effective temperature. We have located a luminous, UV-bright object within 0.4 arcsec (1.5 sigma of the astrometric position) of M31-RV in archival WFPC2 images taken 10 years after the outburst: it resembles an old nova. Twenty years after the outburst, the object remains much too hot to be a mergeburst. Its behavior remains consistent with that of theoretical nova models which erupt on a low mass white dwarf. Future Hubble UV and visible images could determine if the M31-RV analogs (in M85 and in M99) are also behaving like old novae.