We present the results of an intensive multiwavelength campaign on nova LMC 2012. This nova evolved very rapidly in all observed wavelengths. The time to fall two magnitudes in the V band was only 2 days. In X-rays the super soft phase began 13 ± 5 days after discovery and ended around day 50 after discovery. During the super soft phase, the Swift/XRT and Chandra spectra were consistent with the underlying white dwarf (WD) being very hot, ~1 MK, and luminous, ~1038 erg s?1. The UV, optical, and near-IR photometry showed a periodic variation after the initial and rapid fading had ended. Timing analysis revealed a consistent 19.24 ± 0.03 hr period in all UV, optical, and near-IR bands with amplitudes of ~0.3 mag which we associate with the orbital period of the central binary. No periods were detected in the corresponding X-ray data sets. A moderately high inclination system, i = 60 ± 10, was inferred from the early optical emission lines. The HST/STIS UV spectra were highly unusual with only the N v (1240 ?) line present and superposed on a blue continuum. The lack of emission lines and the observed UV and optical continua from four epochs can be fit with a low mass ejection event, ~10?6 , from a hot and massive WD near the Chandrasekhar limit. The WD, in turn, significantly illuminated its subgiant companion which provided the bulk of the observed UV/optical continuum emission at the later dates. The inferred extreme WD characteristics and low mass ejection event favor nova LMC 2012 being a recurrent nova of the U Sco subclass.
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