1203.4233 (E. Ripamonti et al.)

Broad [OIII] in the globular cluster RZ 2109: X-ray ionized nova ejecta?    [PDF]

E. Ripamonti, M. Mapelli

We study the possibility that the very broad (~1500 km/s) and luminous (L_5007 ~ 1.4e37 erg/s) [OIII] line emission observed in the globular cluster RZ 2109 might be explained with the photoionization of nova ejecta by the bright (L_X ~ 4e39 erg/s) X-ray source hosted in the same globular cluster. We find that such scenario is plausible and explains most of the features of the RZ 2109 spectrum (line luminosity, absence of H emission lines, peculiar asymmetry of the line profile); on the other hand, it requires the nova ejecta to be relatively massive (>~ 0.5e-3 Msun}), and the nova to be located at a distance <~ 0.1 pc from the X-ray source. We also predict the time evolution of the RZ 2109 line emission, so that future observations can be used to test this scenario.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1203.4233