Abstract
The IUE data base is used to analyze the UV line shapes of the cataclysmic variables RW Sex, RW Tri, and V Sge. Observed lines are compared to synthetic line profiles computed using a model of rotating biconical winds from accretion disks. The wind model calculates the wind ionization structure self-consistently including photoionization from the disk and boundary layer and treats 3D line radiation transfer in the Sobolev approximation. It is found that winds from accretion disks provide a good fit for reasonable parameters to the observed UV lines which include the P Cygni profiles for low-inclination systems and pure emission at large inclination. Disk winds are preferable to spherical winds which originate on the white dwarf because they: (1) require a much lower ratio of mass-loss rate to accretion rate and are therefore more plausible energetically; (2) provide a natural source for a biconical distribution of mass outflow which produces strong scattering far above the disk leading to P Cygni profiles for low-inclination systems and pure line emission profiles at high inclination with the absence of eclipses in UV lines; and (3) produce rotation-broadened pure emission lines at high inclination.
Published Version
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