Nova Irradiation

Novae are periodic thermo-nuclear explosions on top of white dwarfs that accrete mass from a companion star. When a nova erupts, it heats the companion by irradiation, causing its outer layers to inflate. This inflation enhances the mass transfer onto the white dwarf.​

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Mass accretion provides the white dwarf with an additional energy source (gravitational potential energy) to irradiate the companion, such that the enhanced mass transfer rate can sustain itself for about a thousand years. ​

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See Ginzburg & Quataert 2021 for details.