http://arxiv.org/abs/1401.2905
Context. In late November 2013 a fourth outburst in five years of the M31 recurrent nova M31N 2008-12a was announced.
Aims. In this Letter we address the optical lightcurve and progenitor system of M31N 2008-12a.
Methods. Optical imaging data of the 2013 outburst from the Liverpool Telescope, La Palma, and Danish 1.54m Telescope, La Silla, and archival Hubble Space Telescope near-IR, optical and near-UV data are astrometrically and photometrically analysed.
Results. Photometry of the 2013 outburst, combined with the previous three, enabled construction of a template lightcurve of a very fast nova (t2 (V) ~4 days). The archival data allowed recovery of the progenitor system in optical and near-UV data, indicating a red-giant secondary with bright accretion disk, or alternatively a system with a sub-giant secondary but dominated by a disk.
Conclusions. The outbursts of M31N 2008-12a, plus a number of historic X-ray detections, indicate a unique system with a recurrence timescale of ~1 year. This implies the presence of a very high mass white dwarf plus high accretion rate. The recovered progenitor system is consistent with such an elevated rate of accretion.We encourage additional observations, especially towards the end of 2014.
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