MESA MODELS OF CLASSICAL NOVA OUTBURSTS: THE MULTICYCLE EVOLUTION AND EFFECTS OF CONVECTIVE BOUNDARY MIXING
Novae are cataclysmic variables driven by accretion of H-rich material onto a
white-dwarf (WD) star from its low-mass main-sequence binary companion. New
time-domain observational capabilities, such as the Palomar Transient Factory
and Pan-STARRS, have revealed a diversity of their behaviour that should be
theoretically addressed. Nova outbursts depend sensitively on nuclear physics
data, and more readily available nova simulations are needed in order to effectively
prioritize experimental effort in nuclear astrophysics. In this paper we use
the MESA stellar evolution code to construct multicycle nova evolution sequences
with CO WD cores. We explore a range of WD masses and accretion rates as well
as the effect of different cooling times before the onset of accretion. In addition,
we study the dependence on the elemental abundance distribution of accreted
material and convective boundary mixing at the core-envelope interface. Models
with such convective boundary mixing display an enrichment of the accreted envelope
with C and O from the underlying white dwarf that is commensurate with
observations. We compare our results with the previous work and investigate a
new scenario for novae with the 3He-triggered convection.
Journal: Astrophysical Journal
