The potential of the VLTI for studying novae

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The potential of the VLTIfor studying novae

• Olivier CHESNEAU
• Observatoire de la Côte dAzur, Département
  Gemini
• N. Nardetto (OCA), F. Millour (LUAN), C. Hummel
  (ESO), M. Vannier (ESO),
• F Rantakyro (ESO) F. Malbet (LAOG), A. Spang
  (OCA),
• D. Bonneau (OCA), A. Domiciano,(LUAN) ,D. Mourard
  (OCA),
• R. Petrov (LUAN), Ph. Stee (OCA), F. Vakili
  (LUAN)
• M.F. Bode (Liveropoll), T. OBrien (Jodrell
  Bank), G. Skinner (CESR)

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What is the distance of the source?
Is the ejection spherical?
How a jet can form?
How dust can form?
Is the nova wind spherical?
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Observations AMBER de la nova récurrente RS Oph 5
jours après sa découverte

• Un triplet de base,
• Résolution spectrale R1500 (200 km/s),
• Deux observations
• a) Une observation grand S/B centrée sur Brg et
  son proche continuum,
• b) Une observations à faible S/B couvrant la 1.95
  à 2.22mm (moitié de la bande K)
• Pour chaque observation, le set de donnée
• 3 visibilités dispersées,
• 3 phase différentielles,
• 1 clôture de phase

Chesneau, Nardetto, Millour et al. AA
2007special issue
Ilustrate the potential of the VLTI for the study
of novae et autres variables cataclysmiques
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Image VLBA OBrien, Bode, Porcas et al., 2006,
Nature
Attention! Astrométrie arbitraire!
D1600pc jorb0.97 Rrg50 Rsol (M3III) NBdisque1
0 Rsol Kcont 2.2 mas (0.4mas/jour, 430km/s) Brg
3.8 mas (0.69mas/jour,720km/s) HeI 5.3mas
(0.96mas/jour,1000km/s)
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The phase information kinematics of the ejecta
(I)
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The phase information kinematics of the ejecta
(II)
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Again a new nova V1280 Sco How organizing these
observations?
RS Oph was a reccurrent nova this implies many
earlier studies!
Complex light curves in visual and different in K
band
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Needs in terms of spectral resolution?
Early days, wind phase YES!, medium
resolution No dust, coronal phase YES!,
probably high resolution Dust probably NO, the
dust continuum overwhelm the lines information
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Toward a systematic approach
DDT versus ToO? Faster reaction, on-going
research but need of a well-prepared group! How
to react on events based that are unknown in
advance? Novae have many different behaviors in
term of light curves, lines, dust
production Dust not expected in the DDT
proposal ? Some AMBER time to be converted into
MIDI time Optimizing configuration and VLTI
flexibility this is ATs job and not for UTs So
proposal limited to bright nova event only Need
of an intense time coverage (more than uv
coverage? Depends on the scientific goals, See
PTI paper)