Effect of the reverse shock on the parameters of the observed X-Ray emission during the 1998 outburst of CI Cam

Based on the model of interaction between spherically symmetrical expanding matter and the external medium, we have estimated the parameters of the matter heated by the shock that was produced in the envelope ejected by the explosion of a classical nova during its interaction with the stellar wind from the optical companion. Using this model, we have shown that the matter ejected during the outburst in the system CI Cam had no steep velocity gradients and that the reverse shock could heat the ejected matter only to a temperature of ~0.1 keV. Therefore, this matter did not contribute to the mean temperature and luminosity of the system observed in the energy range 3-20 keV.

Diagnostics of the Early Explosion Phase of a Classical Nova Using Its X-ray Emission: A Model for the X-ray Outburst of CI Camelopardalis in 1998

We have computed a spherically symmetric model for the interaction of matter ejected during the outburst of a classical nova with the stellar wind from its optical component.This model is used to describe the intense X-ray outburst (the peak 3-20 keV flux was ~2 Crab) of the binary system CI Camelopardalis in 1998. According to our model, the stellar wind from the optical component heated by a strong shock wave produced when matter is ejected from the white dwarf as the result of a thermonuclear explosion on its surface is the emission source in the standard X-ray band. Comparison of the calculated and observed time dependences of the mean radiation temperature and luminosity of the binary system during its outburst has yielded very important characteristics of the explosion.We have been able to measure the velocity of the ejected matter immediately after the onset of the explosion for the first time: it follows from our model that the ejected matter had a velocity of ~2700 km/s even on 0.1-0.5 day after the outburst onset and it flew with such a velocity for the first 1-1.5 day under an external force, possibly, the radiation pressure from the white dwarf. Subsequently, the matter probably became transparent and began to decelerate. The time dependence of the mean radiation temperature at late expansion phases has allowed us to estimate the mass of the ejected matter, ~10^{-7}-10^{-6} Msun. The mass loss rate in the stellar wind required to explain the observed peak luminosity of the binary system during its outburst has been estimated to be dM/dt ~(1-2)x10^{-6} Msun/yr.