An emission-line model for AM Herculis systems

Abstract

view Abstract Citations (55) References (29) Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS An Emission-Line Model for AM Herculis Systems Ferrario, Lilia ; Wickramasinghe, D. T. ; Tuohy, I. R. Abstract The optical spectra of the AM Herculis binaries are characterized by extremely complex emission lines whose profiles can be resolved into at least three components which are formed in different regions of the accretion stream leading from the companion star toward the magnetic white dwarf. A theoretical model is presented for the radial velocity and velocity dispersion of the broad emission line component assuming that it originates mainly in the gas which is diverted out of the orbital plane and funneled onto the white dwarf surface along magnetic field lines. The model is used to locate the line-forming region in three AM Her variables: E1405-451, CW 1103+254, and EXO 033319-2554.2, using as constraints the radial velocity and velocity dispersion data. The analyses of these systems show that the material is threaded by the magnetic field in a very azimuthally extended coupling region located 0.5-0.75 of the way between the white dwarf and the inner Lagrange point. Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Pub Date: June 1989 DOI: 10.1086/167497 Bibcode: 1989ApJ...341..327F Keywords: Binary Stars; Cataclysmic Variables; Emission Spectra; Stellar Mass Accretion; White Dwarf Stars; Dwarf Novae; Polarized Radiation; Spectral Line Width; Stellar Magnetospheres; Visible Spectrum; Astrophysics; STARS: ACCRETION; STARS: BINARIES; STARS: DWARF NOVAE; STARS: MAGNETIC; STARS: WHITE DWARFS full text sources ADS | data products SIMBAD (3)