Unexpected Superoutburst and Rebrightening of AL Comae Berenices in 2015

TL;DR

In 2015, AL Com exhibited an unusual superoutburst with a short recurrence, lacking early superhumps, and showed a rebrightening, providing new insights into the resonance conditions and superhump evolution in WZ Sge-type dwarf novae.

Contribution

This study reports the first observation of a superoutburst without early superhumps and with a rebrightening in AL Com, revealing the influence of disk resonance conditions on outburst behavior.

Findings

Shortest superoutburst recurrence among WZ Sge-type dwarf novae.

Absence of early superhumps and presence of a precursor.

Rebrightening with similar light curve to previous rebrightenings.

Abstract

In 2015 March, the notable WZ Sge-type dwarf nova AL Com exhibited an unusual outburst with a recurrence time of ${\sim}$1.5 yr, which is the shortest interval of superoutbursts among WZ Sge-type dwarf novae. Early superhumps in the superoutburst light curve were absent, and a precursor was observed at the onset of the superoutburst for the first time in WZ Sge-type dwarf novae. The present superoutburst can be interpreted as a result of the condition that the disk radius barely reached the 3:1 resonance radius, but did not reach the 2:1 resonance one. Ordinary superhumps immediately grew following the precursor. The initial part of the outburst is indistinguishable from those of superoutbursts of ordinary SU UMa-type dwarf novae. This observation supports the interpretation that the 2:1 resonance suppresses a growth of ordinary superhumps. The estimated superhump period and superhump period derivative are $P_{\rm sh}$ = 0.0573185(11) d and $P_{\rm dot} = +1.5(3.1) \times 10^{-5}$, respectively. These values indicate that the evolution of ordinary superhumps is the same as that in past superoutbursts with much larger extent. Although the light curve during the plateau stage was typical for an SU UMa-type dwarf nova, this superoutburst showed a rebrightening, together with a regrowth of the superhumps. The overall light curve of the rebrightening was the almost the same as those observed in previous rebrightenings. This implies that the rebrightening type is inherent in the system.