A HST Archival Study of Cataclysmic Variable White Dwarfs

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

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Hst Proposal Id #8052 Stellar Astrophysics

Scientific paper

HST spectroscopy of faint exposed white dwarfs {WDs} in cataclysmic variables {CVs} has yielded the first CV white dwarf rotation rates, T_eff, log g, first chemical abundances of their accreted atmospheres, cooling response to heating of the white dwarf by accretion {boundary layer irradiation, compression and shear mixing} in consequence of dwarf nova outburst events, the first HST- determined WD masses independent of disk emission line velocities, and resulted in the first detection of an accretion belt. However detailed information is available for ONLY a handful of systems, and they are dwarf novae with extremely different characteristics. The white dwarf properties in other CV subgroups have not yet been characterized. Therefore, the properties of the white dwarfs derived so far in just three dwarf novae are only individual analyses. In order to progress toward a deeper, broader {i.e. more global} understanding of both disk and magnetic accretion, it is vital to enhance our knowledge about the properties of the compact star/boundary layer. This can ONLY be accomplished by an increased sample size. The HST archival spectra of 14 non-magnetic and magnetic CVs contains untapped new information on the underlying accreting WDs in AM Her/DQ Her systems and in several other kinds of dwarf novae. None of these have been analyzed with multi-component {disk, white dwarf, absorbing curtain, accretion belt} LTE/NLTE synthetic spectral fitting. We propose to carry out these first detailed studies of the underlying WDs in these systems and thereby shed further light on the effects of accretion.

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