No nuclear reactions occur in the interior of a white dwarf. its brilliance comes from stored heat. therefore, the fate of an isolated white dwarf is to slowly lose its stored energy and dim over a long period of time. however, if a white dwarf is a member of a binary-star system with specific properties, the white dwarf can become explosively active. label the components of such a binary-star system capable of producing a nova event.
mass-transfer stream
accretion disk
main-sequence or giant companion star
white dwarf