2024ApJ...970...54M

The origin of bright X-ray emission lines that appear late in a nova eruption remains largely a puzzle. We present two high-resolution X-ray grating spectra of the classical nova YZ Ret, observed 77 and 115 days post-eruption, using XMM-Newton and Chandra, respectively. Both spectra feature resolved emission lines blueshifted by v = -1500 km s^–1 and broadened by σ_v = 500 km s^–1. The two spectra are well described by a collisionally ionized plasma of kT ∼ 70 eV that dimmed by a factor of ∼40 between the two exposures. The spectra also show narrow radiative recombination continua (RRCs) of C⁺⁴, C⁺⁵, and N⁺⁵, indicating the interaction of the hot ionized plasma with cold electrons of kT ∼ 2 eV. The high-n Rydberg series of C⁺⁴ is anomalously bright, allowing us to measure the electron density through continuum lowering, which is in agreement with the He-like N⁺⁵ density diagnostic of n_e = (1.7 ± 0.4) × 10¹¹ cm^–3. The high population of these high-n levels constitutes the best evidence to date of charge exchange (CX) with neutral H in an astrophysical ionized plasma. The remarkable fact that the velocity and plasma temperature are the same after 38 days, despite the high density and decreasing flux, is evidence for ongoing heating. We suggest the heating is due to a reverse shock in the nova ejecta, which forms a thin X-ray shell. The narrow RRCs and CX are attributed to direct mixing with cold gas, which overtakes the hot plasma either from the shock front or through the contact discontinuity.