Non-Radial Pulsations in Post-Outburst Novae

Abstract

After an optical peak, a classical or recurrent nova settles into a brief (days to years) period of quasi-stable thermonuclear burning in a compact configuration nearly at the white dwarf (WD) radius. During this time, the underlying WD becomes visible as a strong emitter of supersoft X-rays. Observations during this phase have revealed oscillations in the X-ray emission with periods on the order of tens of seconds. A proposed explanation for the source of these oscillations are internal gravity waves excited by nuclear reactions at the base of the hydrogen-burning layer. In this work, we present the first models exhibiting unstable surface $g$-modes with periods similar to oscillation periods found in galactic novae. However, when comparing mode periods of our models to the observed oscillations of several novae, we find that the modes which are excited have periods shorter than that observed.