Accepted Cycle 12 Observing Proposals

WD BINARES & CV

Proposal Number	Subject Category	PI Name	Title
12300407	WD BINARIES AND CV	Balman	The Extended X-ray Emission from the Shell of Recurrent Nova T Pyxidis
12300604	WD BINARIES AND CV	Kong	Close Binary Populations in Metal-Rich Globular Clusters
12300698	WD BINARIES AND CV	Orio	A luminous nova in outburst
12300901	WD BINARIES AND CV	Sokoloski	X-RAY IMAGING OF NOVA SHELLS

Subject Category: WD BINARIES AND CV

Proposal Number: 12300407

Title: The Extended X-ray Emission from the Shell of Recurrent Nova T Pyxidis

PI Name: Solen Balman

We propose to observe the recurrent nova T Pyx for 100 ksec with the Chandra ACIS-S3 detector to resolve and detect a recurrent nova remnant for the first time in X-rays. We recovered extended emission using an archival XMM-Newton Observation of T Pyx (Balman 2010). We will test the theoretical predictions of Contini & Prialnik (1997) for the circumstellar shock evolution in T Pyx. We plan to study the forward & reverse shocks, the spatial morphology, the spectra of the remnant and the central source by disentangling the shell/s around the nova from the point source with the unprecedented spatial resolution of the Chandra ACIS-S3. Studying the old remnants of nova systems requires simultaneous high spatial resolution and sensitivity which can only be done with the Chandra Observatory.

R.A.	Dec.	Target Name	Det.	Grating	Exp.Time
09:04:41.50	-32:22:47.00	T Pyxidis	ACIS-S	NONE	100

Subject Category: WD BINARIES AND CV

Proposal Number: 12300604

Title: Close Binary Populations in Metal-Rich Globular Clusters

PI Name: Albert Kong

Recent observations of Galactic and extragalactic globular clusters have suggested that bright X-ray sources preferentially reside in metal-rich clusters. The same scenario may also happen for low-luminosity globular cluster X-ray sources. Although Chandra has observed many Galactic globular clusters, majority of them are metal-poor with [Fe/H]<-1 and there is no observational evidence for metal dependence. We propose to use Chandra/HST to study three metal-rich ([Fe/H]>-0.5) globular clusters and to test the prediction that metallicity can affect the population of low-luminosity globular cluster X-ray sources.

R.A.	Dec.	Target Name	Det.	Grating	Exp.Time
18:04:49.60	-30:03:20.80	NGC6528	ACIS-S	NONE	60

Subject Category: WD BINARIES AND CV

Proposal Number: 12300698

Title: A luminous nova in outburst

PI Name: Marina Orio

We propose grating observations a classical or recurrent nova in outburst, once it is observed to turn into a luminous X-ray source with Swift or with another X-ray satellite. Our aims are: a) to constrain the mass, temperature and chemical composition of the white dwarf by analyzing the LETG spectrum, b) to correlate spectral and temporal variability during the nuclear burning phase, and c) if the shell is exceptionally X-ray bright, we will use the HETG to explore wind mass loss in a recurrent nova. The proposed study is important not only for nova/CV theory, but also for understanding hydrogen burning in shell in most types of supernova Ia progenitors.

R.A.	Dec.	Target Name	Det.	Grating	Exp.Time
		new nova	HRC-S	LETG	40
		new nova	ACIS-S	HETG	40

Subject Category: WD BINARIES AND CV

Proposal Number: 12300901

Title: X-RAY IMAGING OF NOVA SHELLS

PI Name: Jennifer Sokoloski

Novae are the most common stellar explosions in the Universe, and the most energetic after GRBs and supernovae. Like other stellar explosions, optical data show that novae are aspherical and inhomogeneous. Although novae are known to be triggered by a thermonuclear runaway (TNR) on an accreting white dwarf, the means by which the observed structure is produced is less clear. Since the shaping of nova remnants must produce shocks, and thus X-rays, Chandra imaging provides a powerful tool for understanding how novae produce their rings, clumps, and jets. We propose a major comparative study of the X-rays from nova shells to determine the processes that shape the ejecta. This work has wider implications for the physics of jets and asymmetry production in all types of stellar explosions.

R.A.	Dec.	Target Name	Det.	Grating	Exp.Time
17:50:13.20	-06:42:28.40	RS Oph	ACIS-S	NONE	250

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