Infrared Cavity Surrounding T Pyxidis: Evidence of a Nova Super-remnant?

Nova super-remnants (NSR) are shell-like structures spanning tens of parsecs that are predicted to grow around all recurrent novae as a result of repeated ejecta sweeping up the surrounding material. After the first NSR was discovered in the Andromeda Galaxy around M31N 2008-12a, a number of Galactic NSRs have been uncovered, as has the first NSR in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Here we report an apparent infrared cavity surrounding the Galactic recurrent nova, T Pyxidis, which we suggest may be a nova super-remnant and discuss the implications.