The Unique Helium Nova V445 Puppis Ejected $\gg$0.001 M$_{\odot}$ in the Year 2000 and Will Not Become a Type Ia Supernova

Abstract

V445 Puppis is the only known example of a helium nova, where a layer of helium-rich gas accretes onto the surface of a white dwarf in a cataclysmic variable, with runaway helium burning making for the nova event. Speculatively, helium nova can provide one path to produce a Type Ia supernova (SNIa), within the larger framework of single-degenerate models. Relatively little has been known about V445 Pup, with this work reporting the discovery of the orbital period near 1.87 days. The companion star is 2.65$\pm$0.35 R$_{\odot}$ in radius as an evolved giant star stripped of its outer hydrogen envelope. The orbital period immediately before the 2000 eruption was $P_{\rm pre}$=1.871843$\pm$0.000014 days, with a steady period change of (-0.17$\pm$0.06)$\times$10$^{-8}$ from 1896--1995. The period immediately after the nova eruption was $P_{\rm post}$=1.873593$\pm$0.000034 days, with a $\dot{P}$ of ($-$4.7$\pm$0.5)$\times$10$^{-8}$. The fractional orbital period change ($ΔP/P$) is $+$935$\pm$27 ppm. This restricts the mass of the gases ejected in the nova eruption to be $\gg$0.001M$_{\odot}$, and much greater than the mass accreted to trigger the nova. So the white dwarf is losing mass over each eruption cycle, and will not become a SNIa. Further, for V445 Pup and helium novae in general, I collect observations from 136 normal SNIa, for which any giant or sub-giant companion star would have been detected, yet zero companions are found. This is an independent proof that V445 Pup and helium novae are not SNIa progenitors.