The Recurrent Nova U Scorpii - A Type Ia Supernova Progenitor
Abstract
We derive the mass of the white dwarf in the eclipsing recurrent nova U Sco from the radial velocity semi-amplitudes of the primary and secondary stars. Our results give a high white dwarf mass of M1 = 1.55 0.24M, consistent with the thermonuclear runaway model of recurrent nova outbursts. We confirm that U Sco is the best Type Ia supernova progenitor known, and predict that the time to explosion is within ~700,000 years.
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