Physics
Scientific paper
Jul 2003
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003hst..prop.9732s&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #9732
Physics
Hst Proposal Id #9732 Hot Stars
Scientific paper
V446 Her {Nova Her 1960} is an object with very unique combination of properties: it experienced 40 years ago a nova eruption and started regular dwarf nova outburst activity 10-20 years ago. We suggest that the white dwarf, heated to several 100.000K during the thermonuclear surface burning event, suppressed through irradiation of the accretion disc the thermal instability underlying dwarf nova outbursts for the first 20-30 years following the nova eruption. The gradual cooling of the white dwarf results in a continous decrease of the irradiating flux and, as a result, at present the outer parts of the accretion disc are thermally unstable and produce the observed dwarf nova outbursts. V446 Her provides, hence, the exceptional opportunity to study the structure of a strongly irradiated and thermally unstable accretion disc. To make rigorous use of V446 Her as a laboratory for irradiated accretion discs, it is mandatory to know the temperature of the still extremely hot white dwarf illuminating the disc. We propose to obtain STIS UV spectroscopy of V446 Her in order to detect the photospheric emission of the white dwarf, and to derive accurately its temperature. With this parameter at hand, we will be able to determine the dynamical importance of disc irradiation. Using our HST/STIS data of V446 Her, we will derive an observational calibration of the essential parameter in the framework of irradiated accretion discs i.e. the reprocessing efficiency beta, with considerable importance not only for our understanding of CV's but also of Super Soft Sources, X-Ray binaries, and AGN.
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