Precise Measures of Orbital Period, Before and After Nova Eruption for QZ Aurigae. (arXiv:1905.00974v1 [astro-ph.SR])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Schaefer_B/0/1/0/all/0/1">Bradley E. Schaefer</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Boyd_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">David Boyd</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Clayton_G/0/1/0/all/0/1">Geoffrey C. Clayton</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Frank_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">Juhan Frank</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Johnson_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">Christopher Johnson</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kemp_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">Jonathan Kemp</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Pagnotta_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Ashley Pagnotta</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Patterson_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">Joseph O. Patterson</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Marco_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Miguel Rodriguez Marco</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Xiao_L/0/1/0/all/0/1">Limin Xiao</a>

For the ordinary classical nova QZ Aurigae (which erupted in 1964), we report
1317 magnitudes from 1912–2016, including four eclipses detected on archival
photographic plates from long before the eruption. We have accurate and robust
measures of the orbital period both pre-eruption and post-eruption, and we find
that the orbital period decreased, with a fractional change of -290.71+-0.28
parts-per-million across the eruption, with the orbit necessarily getting
smaller. Further, we find that the light curve outside of eclipses and eruption
is flat at near B=17.14 from 1912–1981, whereupon the average light curve
starts fading down to B=17.49 with large variability. QZ Aur is a robust
counter-example against the Hibernation model for the evolution of cataclysmic
variables, where the model requires that all novae have their period increase
across eruptions. Large period decreases across eruptions can easily arise from
mass imbalances in the ejecta, as are commonly seen in asymmetric nova shells.

For the ordinary classical nova QZ Aurigae (which erupted in 1964), we report
1317 magnitudes from 1912–2016, including four eclipses detected on archival
photographic plates from long before the eruption. We have accurate and robust
measures of the orbital period both pre-eruption and post-eruption, and we find
that the orbital period decreased, with a fractional change of -290.71+-0.28
parts-per-million across the eruption, with the orbit necessarily getting
smaller. Further, we find that the light curve outside of eclipses and eruption
is flat at near B=17.14 from 1912–1981, whereupon the average light curve
starts fading down to B=17.49 with large variability. QZ Aur is a robust
counter-example against the Hibernation model for the evolution of cataclysmic
variables, where the model requires that all novae have their period increase
across eruptions. Large period decreases across eruptions can easily arise from
mass imbalances in the ejecta, as are commonly seen in asymmetric nova shells.

http://arxiv.org/icons/sfx.gif