The $UBV$ Color Evolution of Classical Novae. IV. Time-Stretched $(U-B)_0$-$(M_B-2.5\log f_{\rm s})$ and $(V-I)_0$-$(M_I-2.5\log f_{\rm s})$ Color-Magnitude Diagrams of Novae in Outburst

Izumi Hachisu, Mariko Kato

Published 2020-12-11, updated 2021-03-22Version 2

Light curves and color evolutions of two classical novae can be largely overlapped if we properly squeeze or stretch the timescale of a target nova against that of a template nova by $t'=t/f_{\rm s}$. Then the brightness of the target nova is related to the brightness of the template nova by $(M[t])_{\rm template} = (M[t/f_{\rm s}] - 2.5 \log f_{\rm s})_{\rm target}$, where $M[t]$ is the absolute magnitude and a function of time $t$, and $f_{\rm s}$ is the ratio of timescales between the target and template novae. In the previous papers of this series, we show that many novae broadly overlap in the time-stretched $(B-V)_0$-$(M_V-2.5 \log f_{\rm s})$ color-magnitude diagram. In the present paper, we propose two other $(U-B)_0$-$(M_B-2.5\log f_{\rm s})$ and $(V-I)_0$-$(M_I-2.5\log f_{\rm s})$ diagrams, and show that their tracks overlap for 16 novae and for 52 novae, respectively. Here, $(U-B)_0$, $(B-V)_0$, and $(V-I)_0$ are the intrinsic $U-B$, $B-V$, and $V-I$ colors and not changed by the time-stretch, and $M_B$, $M_V$, and $M_I$ are the absolute $B$, $V$, and $I$ magnitudes. Using these properties, we considerably refine the previous estimates of their distance and reddening. The obtained distances are in reasonable agreement with those of {\it Gaia} Data Release 2 catalogue.