The Effects of the pep Nuclear Reaction and Other Improvements in the Nuclear Reaction Rate Library on Simulations of the Classical Nova Outburst

Understand

We have continued our studies of the Classical Nova outburst by evolving TNRs on 1.25Msun and 1.35Msun WDs (ONeMg composition) under conditions which produce mass ejection and a rapid increase in the emitted light, by examining the effects of changes in the nuclear reaction rates on both the observable features and the nucleosynthesis during the outburst.

• In order to improve our calculations over previous work, we have incorporated a modern nuclear reaction network into our hydrodynamic computer code.
• We find that the updates in the nuclear reaction rate libraries change the amount of ejected mass, peak luminosity, and the resulting nucleosynthesis.
• In addition, as a result of our improvements, we discovered that the pep reaction was not included in our previous studies of CN explosions.