Nova V1974 Cygni - results of the 1997 campaign

Abstract

This report analyzes the I-band CCD photometry of Nova V1974 Cygni from the 1997 observational season. The analysis shows that both short-term modulations with periods 0.0813 and 0.085 days are still present in the light curve of the star. We confirmed the stability of the shorter period which is interpreted as the orbital period of the binary system. Its value, determined using the O-C residuals, is P_{orb}=0.08125873(23) days = 117.0126(3) min. The longer period, which appeared in the light curve in 1994, was decreasing until the beginning of 1995 but then started to increase quite rapidly. In October 1996 the value of the period was 122.67\pm0.02 min. Until the next observing run the period significantly decreased. Its value, determined from our observations performed in July 1997, was 121.87\pm0.12 min. This means that the rate of change of the period in 1996-1997 was as high as $\dot P \approx 10^{-6}$. Such a rapid change of the period requires a large amount of rotational kinetic energy, if we assume that a 122-min periodicity is the rotation period of a white dwarf. Thus the more probable explanation is the hypothesis is that the longer period including a superhump period is caused by the precession of an accretion disc surrounding a white dwarf primary.