Spectra of V1405 Cas at the Very Beginning Indicate a Low-mass ONeMg White Dwarf Progenitor

Abstract

The lowest possible mass of ONeMg white dwarfs (WDs) has not been clarified despite its importance in the formation and evolution of WDs. We tackle this issue by studying the properties of V1405 Cas (Nova Cassiopeiae 2021), which is an outlier given a combination of its very slow light-curve evolution and the recently reported neon-nova identification. We report its rapid spectral evolution in the initial phase, covering 9.88, 23.77, 33.94, 53.53, 71.79, and 81.90 hr after the discovery. The first spectrum is characterized by lines from highly ionized species, most noticeably He ii and N iii. These lines are quickly replaced by lower-ionization lines, e.g., N ii, Si ii, and O i. In addition, Al ii (6237 Å) starts emerging as an emission line at the second epoch. We perform emission-line strength diagnostics, showing that the density and temperature quickly decrease toward later epochs. This behavior, together with the decreasing velocity seen in Hα, Hβ, and He i, indicates that the initial nova dynamics is reasonably well described by an expanding fireball on top of an expanding photosphere. Interestingly, the strengths of the N iii and Al ii indicate large enhancement in abundance, pointing to a ONeMg WD progenitor as is consistent with its neon-nova classification. Given its low-mass nature inferred by the slow light-curve evolution and relatively narrow emission lines, it provides a challenge to the stellar evolution theory that predicts the lower limit of the ONeMg WD mass being ∼1.1 M ⊙.