Nova Scorpius 1437 A.D. is now a dwarf nova, age-dated by its proper motion

TL;DR

This paper recovers the binary system of the 1437 A.D. classical nova, confirms its age through proper motion, and shows it now exhibits dwarf nova eruptions, suggesting a long-term evolution of nova systems.

Contribution

It provides the first identification of the binary underlying the 1437 nova and links classical novae to dwarf novae, revealing long-term evolutionary trends.

Findings

The 1437 nova is now a dwarf nova.

All four oldest classical novae are dwarf novae.

Mass transfer rates decrease significantly over centuries.

Abstract

Here we report the recovery of the binary underlying the classical nova of 11 March 1437 A.D. whose age is independently confirmed by proper motion-dating, and show that in the 20th century it exhibits dwarf nova eruptions. The four oldest recovered classical novae are now all dwarf novae. Taken together they strongly suggest that mass transfer rates decrease by an order of magnitude or more in the centuries after a classical nova event, greatly slowing the evolution, and lengthening the lifetimes of these explosive binary stars.