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The Unusual Evolutionary State of Nova Scorpii 1994

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Christopher A. Tout
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy, The Observatories, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, England
Enikő Regős
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy, The Observatories, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, England
Dayal Wickramasinghe
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia

Abstract

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We have investigated possible models for the evolutionary status of the black-hole soft X-ray transient Nova Scorpii. We propose that it is a main-sequence star in which convective overshooting, or some equivalent mixing, occurs at the core-envelope boundary. Recent detections of chemical pollution on the surface of the secondary suggest that the black hole formed in a supernova whose ejecta left and fell back at a sufficiently low velocity to accrete on to the secondary. We examine the effects of increased opacity, increased metallicity and reduced hydrogen abundance on the evolution of the secondary in the hope that these might lead to an alternative scenario. All these only exacerbate the problem.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2002

References

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