Continued Swift observations of Nova Sco 2014 (TCP J17154683-3128303)

ATel #6035; K. L. Page, J. P. Osborne (U. Leicester) & E. Kuulkers (ESA/ESAC)
on 1 Apr 2014; 14:46 UT
Credential Certification: Kim Page (kpa@star.le.ac.uk)

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Following the initial Swift detection on 2014 March 27 of X-rays from Nova Sco 2014 (TCP J17154683-3128303) reported by Kuulkers et al. in ATel #6015, further Swift observations were obtained approximately every 12 hours for the next 5 days. During this time, the X-ray count rate rose from an initial value of 0.35 +/- 0.02 count s^-1 on March 27 to 0.55 +/- 0.02 count s^-1 on April 1. A hardness ratio comparing 2-10 keV/0.3-2 keV correspondingly softens from 7.1 +1.0/-1.6 to 0.77 +0.07/-0.08.

This increase in softer counts appears to be caused mainly by the absorption column decreasing monotonically from (5.7 +1.0/-0.9) x 10²² cm^-2 to (0.43 +0.11/-0.09) x 10²² cm^-2 over this interval. The temperature of the optically thin emission during this time is close to constant, with a mean value of 6.4 +1.1/-0.8 keV. The unabsorbed 0.3-10 keV flux was 7.3 x 10^-11 erg cm^-2 s^-1 during the first observation on March 27 and 5.5 x 10^-11 erg cm^-2 s^-1 twelve hours later. Since then, the flux has remained between 3-4 x 10^-11 erg cm^-2 s^-1. This observed behaviour appears consistent with that expected for a shock emerging from a secondary star wind, as expected in a symbiotic nova (ATel #6032)

We thank the Swift PI and mission operations team for their ongoing support.