Recurrent Nova V2487 Oph Had Superflares in 1941 and 1942 with Radiant Energies of 1042.5±1.6 erg

Abstract

V2487 Ophiuchi (V2487 Oph) is a recurrent nova with classical nova eruptions in 1900 and 1998, and it is also the most extreme known superflare star. These superflares are roughly hour-long flares with amplitudes and optical energies reaching up to 1.10 mag and 1039.21 erg, respectively, with the superflares recurring once a day. The V2487 Oph superflares are certainly operating with the same mechanism as all the other types of superflare stars, where magnetic loops are twisted and stretched until reconnection occurs, whereupon ambient electrons are accelerated to relativistic energies and then emit bremsstrahlung radiation from X-ray to radio. V2487 Oph is unique among known superflare stars in that one of the loop footprints is in an accretion disk. This exact mechanism was theoretically predicted by M. R. Hayashi and colleagues in 1996. Now, I have found two superflares recorded on Harvard archival photographs from 1941 and 1942. These two superflares have B-magnitude amplitudes of >1.83 and >2.00 mag and total radiated energies of 1042.4 and 1042.5 erg, respectively, with bolometric corrections. Each has emitted energies of ∼30 billion Carringtons, in units of the most energetic solar flare. Further, I find superflares in Zwicky Transient Factory light curves, so V2487 Oph has been superflaring from 1941 to 2023. For the observed number distribution of dN/dE = 4E −2 superflares per year, for E in units of 1041 erg, the emitted energy in superflare light is 1042.1 erg in each year, or 1044.1 erg from 1941 to 2023.