XMM Observations of Recent Classical Novae

Classical Novae are strong Xray emitters during the first daysmonths afteroutburst. Their Xray spectrum shows two components which evolve separately: ahard one, caused by shocks in the ejecta, appearing a few daysweeks after theoutburst, and a soft one, due to residual Hydrogen burning on the surface of theWD, which becomes visible a few months later. The purpose of this proposal is toperform XMM observations of four recent, bright classical novae 12 years afterthe outburst, when both spectral components should be visible. We intend toobserve each object two times six months apart, to study the nature andvariability of the spectral components, to estimate typical timescales, and tolink the observed behaviour to the characteristics of the individual systems. truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]