Phase-Resolved Infrared Spectroscopy and Photometry of V1500 Cygni, and a Search for Similar Old Classical Novae Thomas E. Harrison1;2 Department of Astronomy, New Mexico State University, Box 30001, MSC 4500, Las Cruces, NM 88003-8001
[email protected] Randy D. Campbell, James E. Lyke W. M. Keck Observatory, 65-1120 Mamalahoa Hwy., Kamuela, HI 96743
[email protected],
[email protected] ABSTRACT We present phase-resolved near-infrared photometry and spectroscopy of the clas- sical nova V1500 Cyg to explore whether cyclotron emission is present in this system. While the spectroscopy do not indicate the presence of discrete cyclotron harmonic emission, the light curves suggest that a sizable fraction of its near-infrared fluxes are due to this component. The light curves of V1500 Cyg appear to remain dominated by emission from the heated face of the secondary star in this system. We have used infrared spectroscopy and photometry to search for other potential magnetic systems amongst old classical novae. We have found that the infrared light curves of V1974 Cyg superficially resemble those of V1500 Cyg, suggesting a highly irradiated companion. The old novae V446 Her and QV Vul have light curves with large amplitude variations like those seen in polars, suggesting they might have magnetic primaries. We extract photometry for seventy nine old novae from the 2MASS Point Source Catalog and use those data to derive the mean, un-reddened infrared colors of quiescent novae. We also extract W ISE data for these objects and find that forty five of them were detected. Surprisingly, a number of these systems were detected in the W ISE 22 µm band.