The parent population of novae in the large magellanic cloud

Abstract

The parent population of novae in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) are identified by a study of the local, projected, stellar populations. The age, density and luminosity function of the stellar population are estimated around 15 novae. The upper limit of the age of the intermediate stellar population is found to be 4 Gyr in all the regions, excepting the region around the slow nova LMC 1948. The star formation history of the underlying population of both the fast and moderately fast novae indicate their parent population to be similar and likely to be in the age range 3.2 – 1.0 Gyr. This is in good agreement with the theoretical age estimates for Galactic cataclysmic variables. The region around the slow nova shows a stellar population in the age range 1 – 10 Gyr, with a good fraction older than 4Gyr. This indicates that the progenitor might belong to an older population, consistent with the idea that the progenitors of slow novae belong to older population.