Orbital Period Changes of Recurrent Nova T Pyxidis Demonstrate that M_ejecta >> 11.3xM_accreted and Is Not a Type Ia Supernova Progenitor

TL;DR

This study uses a novel timing method to measure the orbital period changes in T Pyxidis, demonstrating that the white dwarf ejects significantly more mass than it accretes, ruling out it as a Type Ia supernova progenitor.

Contribution

The paper introduces a new timing technique to accurately measure mass ejection in recurrent novae, providing definitive evidence that T Pyxidis cannot become a Type Ia supernova.

Findings

M_ejecta >> 11.3 x M_accreted

T Pyx is not a Type Ia supernova progenitor

Ejected mass exceeds accreted mass by a large margin

Abstract

Recurrent nova (RN) T Pyxidis (T Pyx) has a complex history of mass accreting-onto and ejection-from the white dwarf, with a classical nova eruption around 1866 kick-starting a RN-phase with six RN eruptions from 1890--2011. T Pyx is a primary progenitor candidate for Type Ia supernovae (SNIa). This is chiefly a question of whether the mass accreted by the white dwarf ($M_{\rm accreted}$) is more-or-less than the mass ejected by the nova eruptions ($M_{\rm ejecta}$) over the entire eruption cycle. Prior attempts to measure $M_{\rm ejecta}$ from the traditional methods have a scatter of $>$130$\times$, so only a new technique can provide a measure of adequate accuracy and reliability. This new technique is the timing experiment of measuring the orbital period from 1986 to 2025, where the period increased by $+$50.3$\pm$7.9 parts-per-million across the 2011 eruption. With simple and sure physics, the best estimate for the mass ejected by one RN event is $>$2400$\times$10$^{-7}$ M$_{\odot}$, with an extreme inviolate limit of $\gg$354$\times$10$^{-7}$ M$_{\odot}$. Over all eruptions in a cycle, $M_{ejecta}$$>$17120$\times$10$^{-7}$ M$_{\odot}$, with an inviolate limit of $M_{ejecta}$$\gg$2144$\times$10$^{-7}$ M$_{\odot}$. Over the full eruption cycle, the white dwarf accreted 220$\times$10$^{-7}$ M$_{\odot}$. So M$_{\rm ejecta}$$\gg$11.3$\times$M$_{\rm accreted}$, and T Pyx can never become a SNIa. This paper is the seventh in a series proving that each of various popular candidate SNIa progenitors cannot possibly evolve to a supernova; including V445 Pup, U Sco, T CrB, all symbiotic stars, FQ Cir, V1405 Cas, and now T Pyx.