Classical Novae at Radio Wavelengths

Understand

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 non-thermal emission observed at earlier times.
• We identify high brightness temperature emission (T_B > 5x10^4 K) as an indication of synchrotron emission in at least 9 (25%) of the novae.