A MULTIWAVELENGTH STUDY OF THE EARLY EVOLUTION OF THE CLASSICAL NOVA LMC-1988 NUMBER-1

LMC 1988 #1 was a moderately fast, CO, dust-forming classical nova. It was observed extensively in many different wavelength regions during its early evolution. The UV, optical and infrared light curves of LMC 1988 #1 are very similar to those of the Galactic Nova V1668 Cyg 1978. As in V1668 Cyg, LMC 1988 #1 showed the presence of an optically thin dust shell similar to 55 d after visual maximum which lasted for abou t two months. We successfully fit the UV and optical spectra of LMC 19 88 #1 taken within the first two months of its outburst (when the atmo sphere was still optically thick) with synthetic spectra computed usin g PHOENIX nova model atmospheres. The synthetic spectra reproduce most of the features seen in the observations and provide V-band magnitude s consistent with the observed light curve. From the synthetic spectra l fits to the observed data, we find that the bolometric luminosity wa s approximately constant at (3.0 +/- 0.3) x 10(38) erg s(-1) (assuming a distance of 53 kpc to the LMC) during the first 45 d after visual m aximum. The fits are improved by increasing the CNO abundances to simi lar to 10 times their solar values, implying that the ejecta were enri ched in CNO elements.