A study of the X-ray binary AM Herculis. II - Spectrophotometry at maximum light

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

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Binary Stars, Stellar Luminosity, Stellar Spectra, Stellar Spectrophotometry, White Dwarf Stars, X Ray Sources, Balmer Series, Emission Spectra, Spectrum Analysis, Stellar Magnetic Fields

Scientific paper

The spectrum of the AM Her system at maximum light is analyzed, and a comparison is made between the spectra when the system is at different levels of brightness. At maximum light the equivalent line widths fluctuate rapidly on a time scale of about 1 min at all phases of the orbit period. As the brightness drops, the system becomes less strongly excited; consequently, the high-excitation elements represented in the spectrum first fade and then vanish. At maximum light the bulk of the radiation comes from the hottest and densest parts of the luminous region. As the light wanes the contribution of their radiation to the total light of the system diminishes, and the radiation of the cooler, more tenuous parts of the emission region becomes perceptible. In addition, the pronounced change in the shape of the emission-line profiles during the orbital period at minimum light implies a considerable amount of irregularity in the region producing the lines, unlike the uniform emission region at maximum light.

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