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Abstract We present the discovery of a new optical/X-ray source likely associated with the Fermi γ -ray source 4FGL J1408.6–2917. Its high-amplitude periodic optical variability, large spectroscopic radial-velocity semiamplitude, evidence for optical emission lines and flaring, and X-ray properties together imply the source is probably a new black widow millisecond pulsar binary. We compile the properties of the 41 confirmed and suspected field black widows, finding a median secondary mass of 0.027 ± 0.003 M ⊙ . Considered jointly with the more massive redback millisecond pulsar binaries, we find that the “spider” companion mass distribution remains strongly bimodal, with essentially zero systems having companion masses of between ∼0.07 and 0.1 M ⊙ . X-ray emission from black widows is typically softer and less luminous than in redbacks, consistent with less efficient particle acceleration in the intrabinary shock in black widows, excepting a few systems that appear to have more efficient “redback-like” shocks. Together black widows and redbacks dominate the census of the fastest spinning field millisecond pulsars in binaries with known companion types, making up ≳80% of systems with P spin < 2 ms. Similar to redbacks, the neutron star masses in black widows appear on average significantly larger than the canonical 1.4 M ⊙ , and many of the highest-mass neutron stars claimed to date are black widows with M NS ≳ 2.1 M ⊙ . Both of these observations are consistent with an evolutionary picture where spider millisecond pulsars emerge from short orbital period progenitors that had a lengthy period of mass transfer initiated while the companion was on the main sequence, leading to fast spins and high masses. 

We present the study of multiwavelength observations of an unidentified Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) source, 4FGL J1910.7−5320, a new candidate redback millisecond pulsar binary. In the 4FGL 95% error region of 4FGL J1910.7−5320, we find a possible binary with a 8.36 hr orbital period from the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey, confirmed by optical spectroscopy using the SOAR telescope. This optical source was recently independently discovered as a redback pulsar by the TRAPUM project, confirming our prediction. We fit the optical spectral energy distributions of 4FGL J1910.7−5320 with a blackbody model, inferring a maximum distance of 4.1 kpc by assuming that the companion fills its Roche lobe with a radius ofR= 0.7R_☉. Using a 12.6 ks Chandra X-ray observation, we identified an X-ray counterpart for 4FGL J1910.7−5320, with a spectrum that can be described by an absorbed power law with a photon index of 1.0 ± 0.4. The spectrally hard X-ray emission shows tentative evidence for orbital variability. Using more than 12 yr of Fermi-LAT data, we refined the position of theγ-ray source, and the optical candidate still lies within the 68% positional error circle. In addition to 4FGL J1910.7−5320, we find a variable optical source with a periodic signal of 4.28 hr inside the 4FGL catalog 95% error region of another unidentified Fermi source, 4FGL J2029.5−4237. However, theγ-ray source does not have a significant X-ray counterpart in an 11.7 ks Chandra observation, with a 3σflux upper limit of 2.4 × 10⁻¹⁴erg cm⁻²s⁻¹(0.3–7 keV). Moreover, the optical source is outside our updated Fermi-LAT 95% error circle. These observational facts all suggest that this new redback millisecond pulsar powers the gamma-ray source 4FGL J1910.7−5320 while 4FGL J2029.5−4237 is unlikely theγ-ray counterpart to the 4.28 hr variable.

 

The discovery that many classical novae produce detectable GeV γ-ray emission has raised the question of the role of shocks in nova eruptions. Here, we use radio observations of nova V809 Cep (nova Cep 2013) with the Jansky Very Large Array to show that it produced non-thermal emission indicative of particle acceleration in strong shocks for more than a month starting about 6 weeks into the eruption, quasi-simultaneous with the production of dust. Broadly speaking, the radio emission at late times – more than 6 months or so into the eruption – is consistent with thermal emission from $10^{-4}\, {\rm M}_\odot$ of freely expanding, 104 K ejecta. At 4.6 and 7.4 GHz, however, the radio light curves display an initial early-time peak 76 d after the discovery of the eruption in the optical (t0). The brightness temperature at 4.6 GHz on day 76 was greater than 105 K, an order of magnitude above what is expected for thermal emission. We argue that the brightness temperature is the result of synchrotron emission due to internal shocks within the ejecta. The evolution of the radio spectrum was consistent with synchrotron emission that peaked at high frequencies before low frequencies, suggesting that the synchrotron from the shock was initially subject to free–free absorption by optically thick ionized material in front of the shock. Dust formation began around day 37, and we suggest that internal shocks in the ejecta were established prior to dust formation and caused the nucleation of dust.

 

Peaking at 3.7 mag on 2020 July 11, YZ Ret was the second-brightest nova of the decade. The nova’s moderate proximity (2.7 kpc, from Gaia) provided an opportunity to explore its multiwavelength properties in great detail. Here, we report on YZ Ret as part of a long-term project to identify the physical mechanisms responsible for high-energy emission in classical novae. We use simultaneous Fermi/LAT and NuSTAR observations complemented by XMM–Newton X-ray grating spectroscopy to probe the physical parameters of the shocked ejecta and the nova-hosting white dwarf. The XMM–Newton observations revealed a supersoft X-ray emission which is dominated by emission lines of C v, C vi, N vi, N vii, and O viii rather than a blackbody-like continuum, suggesting CO-composition of the white dwarf in a high-inclination binary system. Fermi/LAT-detected YZ Ret for 15 d with the γ-ray spectrum best described by a power law with an exponential cut-off at 1.9 ± 0.6 GeV. In stark contrast with theoretical predictions and in keeping with previous NuSTAR observations of Fermi-detected classical novae (V5855 Sgr and V906 Car), the 3.5–78-keV X-ray emission is found to be two orders of magnitude fainter than the GeV emission. The X-ray emission observed by NuSTAR is consistent with a single-temperature thermal plasma model. We do not detect a non-thermal tail of the GeV emission expected to extend down to the NuSTAR band. NuSTAR observations continue to challenge theories of high-energy emission from shocks in novae.

 

We present time-series photometry during the early decline phase of the extremely fast nova V1674 Herculis. The 2021 light curve showed periodic signals at 0.152921(3) days and 501.486(5) s, which we interpret as respectively the orbital and white dwarf spin periods in the underlying binary. We also detected a sideband signal at the difference frequency between these two clocks. During the first 15 days of outburst, the spin period appears to have increased by 0.014(1)%. This increase probably arose from the sudden loss of high-angular-momentum gas (“the nova explosion”) from the rotating, magnetic white dwarf. Both periodic signals appeared remarkably early in the outburst, which we attribute to the extreme speed with which the nova evolved (and became transparent to radiation from the inner binary). After that very fast initial period increase of 71 ms, the period subsequently decreased—at 182(18) ms yr⁻¹in 2021, and 88(18) ms yr⁻¹in 2022. These rates are ∼100× faster than typically seen in intermediate polars. This could be due to high accretion torques from very high mass-transfer rates, which might be common when low-mass donor stars are strongly irradiated by a nova outburst.

 

We report the discovery of 1RXH J082623.6−505741, a 10.4 hr orbital period compact binary. Modeling extensive optical photometry and spectroscopy reveals a ∼0.4M_⊙K-type secondary transferring mass through a low-state accretion disk to a nonmagnetic ∼0.8M_⊙white dwarf. The secondary is overluminous for its mass and dominates the optical spectra at all epochs and must be evolved to fill its Roche Lobe at this orbital period. The X-ray luminosityL_X∼ 1–2 × 10³²erg s⁻¹derived from both new XMM-Newton and archival observations, although high compared to most CVs, still only requires a modest accretion rate onto the white dwarf of$\dot{M}$∼ 3 × 10⁻¹¹to 3 × 10⁻¹⁰M_⊙yr⁻¹, lower than expected for a cataclysmic variable with an evolved secondary. No dwarf nova outbursts have yet been observed from the system, consistent with the low derived mass-transfer rate. Several other cataclysmic variables with similar orbital periods also show unexpectedly low mass-transfer rates, even though selection effects disfavor the discovery of binaries with these properties. This suggests the abundance and evolutionary state of long-period, low mass-transfer rate cataclysmic variables are worthy of additional attention.

 

Abstract We present radio observations (1–40 GHz) for 36 classical novae, representing data from over five decades compiled from the literature, telescope archives, and our own programs. Our targets display a striking diversity in their optical parameters (e.g., spanning optical fading timescales, t 2 = 1–263 days), and we find a similar diversity in the radio light curves. Using a brightness temperature analysis, we find that radio emission from novae is a mixture of thermal and synchrotron emission, with nonthermal emission observed at earlier times. We identify high brightness temperature emission ( T B > 5 × 10 4 K) as an indication of synchrotron emission in at least nine (25%) of the novae. We find a class of synchrotron-dominated novae with mildly evolved companions, exemplified by V5589 Sgr and V392 Per, that appear to be a bridge between classical novae with dwarf companions and symbiotic binaries with giant companions. Four of the novae in our sample have two distinct radio maxima (the first dominated by synchrotron and the later by thermal emission), and in four cases the early synchrotron peak is temporally coincident with a dramatic dip in the optical light curve, hinting at a common site for particle acceleration and dust formation. We publish the light curves in a machine-readable table and encourage the use of these data by the broader community in multiwavelength studies and modeling efforts. 

We report the discovery of TOI-2119b, a transiting brown dwarf (BD) that orbits and is completely eclipsed by an active M-dwarf star. Using light-curve data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission and follow-up high-resolution Doppler spectroscopic observations, we find the BD has a radius of Rb = 1.08 ± 0.03RJ, a mass of Mb = 64.4 ± 2.3MJ, an orbital period of P = 7.200865 ± 0.00002 d, and an eccentricity of e = 0.337 ± 0.002. The host star has a mass of M⋆ = 0.53 ± 0.02M⊙, a radius of R⋆ = 0.50 ± 0.01R⊙, an effective temperature of Teff = 3621 ± 48K, and a metallicity of $\rm [Fe/H]=+0.06\pm 0.08$. TOI-2119b joins an emerging population of transiting BDs around M-dwarf host stars, with TOI-2119 being the ninth such system. These M-dwarf–brown dwarf systems typically occupy mass ratios near q = Mb/M⋆ ≈ 0.1−0.2, which separates them from the typical mass ratios for systems with transiting substellar objects and giant exoplanets that orbit more massive stars. The nature of the secondary eclipse of the BD by the star enables us to estimate the effective temperature of the substellar object to be 2030 ± 84K, which is consistent with predictions by substellar evolutionary models.