# Dissecting a disk-instability outburst in a symbiotic star: $NuSTAR$, and $Swift$ observations of T Coronae Borealis during the rise to the "super-active" state

## TL;DR

This study analyzes multi-wavelength observations of T Coronae Borealis during its rise to a super-active state, revealing gradual changes in UV and X-ray emissions indicative of increased accretion activity.

## Contribution

It provides detailed observational insights into the evolution of emission properties during the outburst rise in a symbiotic star, highlighting spectral energy distribution changes over time.

## Key findings

- UV emission was already bright in 2015, before the optical peak.
- Soft X-ray emission had not developed during the rise in 2015.
- Hard X-ray plasma had similar temperature and reduced flux compared to quiescence.

## Abstract

The current $super-active$ state of the recurrent nova T CrB has been observed with unprecedented detail. Previously published observations provide strong evidence that this state is due to an enhancement of the flow of material through the accretion disk, which increased the optical depth of its most internal region, the boundary layer. $NuSTAR$ and $Swift$ observed T CrB in 2015 September, roughly halfway through the rise to optical maximum. In our analysis of these data, we have found that: $i$) the UV emission, as observed with $Swift$/UVOT in 2015, was already as bright as it became in 2017, after the optical peak; $ii$) the soft X-ray emission (E $\lesssim$ 0.6 keV) observed in 2017 after the optical peak, on the other hand, had not yet developed during the rising phase in 2015; $iii$) the hard X-ray emitting plasma (E $\gtrsim$ 2 keV) had the same temperature and about half the flux of that observed during quiescence in 2006. This phenomenology is akin to that observed during dwarf novae in outburst, but with the changes in the spectral energy distribution happening on a far longer time scale.