What happens to the red dwarf during a classical nova?

[Tish62]

As a red dwarf star is donating material to a white dwarf until there is a nova.

What happens to the red dwarf during the nova? Is there an increase in nucleosynthesis within the red dwarf due to its close proximity? If so, how would that change the periodicity and type of later novas?

If you were positioned on the other side of the red dwarf would there be a significantly different perspective on the nova event or would the magnetic field of the red dwarf skew that?

 

[DrSteve]

Do you mean red giant star?

 

[Chronos]

AFAIK red dwarfs are not known to suffer mass loss in a multistar system. They are small enough to be captured in orbits beyond the reach of leeching by more massive compansions.

 

[Ken G]

I believe she means red giant, and I think the answer is that essentially nothing happens to the red giant during the nova event. The giant might eclipse the early stages of the nova emission if you are situated behind it, though the nova soon expands to a large size and would be seen around the red giant at some later stage. The mass transfer might be interrupted during the nova, and that might introduce feedback effects on the process.

 

[1oldman2]

Recent info on the life cycle of Novas. http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37098317
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature19066.html
http://www.space.com/33772-hibernating-star-goes-nova-explosion.html