Spectroscopy of the enigmatic short-period cataclysmic variable IR Com in an extended low state

Abstract

Abstract We report the occurrence of a deep low state in the eclipsing short-period cataclysmic variable (CV) IR Com, lasting more than two years. Spectroscopy obtained in this state shows the system as a detached white dwarf plus low-mass companion, indicating that accretion has practically ceased. The spectral type of the companion derived from the SDSS spectrum is M6–7, somewhat later than expected for the orbital period of IR Com. Its radial velocity amplitude, K2 = 419.6 ± 3.4 km s−1, together with the inclination of 75°–90° implies 0.8 < Mwd <1.0 M⊙. We estimate the white dwarf temperature to be ≃15 000 K, and the absence of Zeeman splitting in the Balmer lines rules out magnetic fields in excess of ≃5 MG. IR Com still defies an unambiguous classification, in particular the occurrence of a deep, long low state is so far unique among short-period CVs that are not strongly magnetic.