Light Curve Model for Luminous Red Novae and Inferences about the Ejecta of Stellar Mergers

Understand

The process of unstable mass transfer in a stellar binary can result in either a complete merger of the stars or successful removal of the donor envelope leaving a surviving more compact binary.

• "Luminous red nova" (LRN) are the class of optical transients believed to accompany such merger/common envelope events.
• Past works typically model LRNe using analytic formulae for supernova light curves which make assumptions (e.g., radiation dominated ejecta, neglect of hydrogen recombination energy) not justified in stellar mergers due to the lower velocities and specific thermal energy of the ejecta.
• We present a one-dimensional model of LRN light curves, which accounts for these effects.