HST/COS Far-ultraviolet Spectroscopic Analysis of U Geminorum Following a Wide Outburst*

Abstract

Abstract We used the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to obtain a series of four far-ultraviolet (FUV; 915–2148 Å) spectroscopic observations of the prototypical dwarf nova U Geminorum during its cooling following a two-week outburst. Our FUV spectral analysis of the data indicates that the white dwarf (WD) cools from a temperature of ∼41,500 K, 15 days after the peak of the outburst, to ∼36,250 K, 56 days after the peak of the outburst, assuming a massive WD (log(g) = 8.8) and a distance of 100.4 ± 3.7 pc. These results are self-consistent with a ∼1.1 M ⊙ WD with a 5000 ± 200 km radius. The spectra show absorption lines of H i, He ii, C ii iii iv, N iii iv, O vi, S iv, Si ii iii iv, Al iii, Ar iii, and Fe ii, but no emission features. We find suprasolar abundances of nitrogen, confirming the anomalous high N/C ratio. The FUV light curve reveals a ±5% modulation with the orbital phase, showing dips near phases 0.25 and ∼0.75, where the spectra exhibit an increase in the depth of some absorption lines and in particular strong absorption lines from Si ii, Al iii, and Ar iii. The phase dependence we observe is consistent with material overflowing the disk rim at the hot spot, reaching a maximum elevation near phase 0.75, falling back at smaller radii near phase 0.5 where it bounces off the disk surface, and again rising above the disk near phase ∼0.25. There is a large scatter in the absorption lines’ velocities, especially for the silicon lines, while the carbon lines seem to match more closely the orbital velocity of the WD. This indicates that many absorption lines are affected by—or form in—the overflowing stream material veiling the WD, making the analysis of the WD spectra more difficult.