# TESS Program G08150

Title: TESS FFI Search For Ultrafast Novae And Other Fast Galactic Transients

PI: Sokolovsky, Kirill - University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign

Type: SMALL

Summary: We propose a search for ultrafast (decline timescale >~1 day) and faint-fast (absolute magnitude ~ -6, decline in days) novae, as well as other Galactic transients evolving on similar timescales, using full-frame images collected during TESS Cycle 8. Although theoretically predicted (ultrafast novae) and observationally confirmed in other galaxies (faint-fast novae), no such rapidly evolving novae have been identified thus far in the Galaxy. Discovering local analogs of these extragalactic transients will enable a detailed study of their host binary systems and an accurate determination of the total Galactic nova rate. This will help constrain the contribution of novae to the chemical evolution of the Galaxy and improve our understanding of binary evolution pathways leading to Type Ia SNe.