Spectroscopy of WY Sagittae (Nova 1783): detection of the irradiated secondary star

Details Spectroscopy of WY Sagittae (Nova 1783): detection of the irradiated secondary star Spectroscopy of WY Sagittae (Nova 1783): detection of the irradiated secondary star

Jan 1997

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997mnras.284..359s&link_type=abstract

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 284, Issue 2, pp. 359-364.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

6

Eclipses, Binaries: Close, Binaries: Eclipsing, Stars: Individual: Wy Sge, Novae, Cataclysmic Variables.

Scientific paper

We present optical spectroscopy of the old nova WY Sagittae (WY Sge) covering the TiO band heads (7600 A) and Hβ. We detect a narrow emission component to the Hβ line which we believe is associated with the irradiated inner face of the late-type secondary star. We show that the narrow-line emission is well modelled with the assumptions in Beuermann & Thomas and has an orbital velocity of K_em=230+/-18 km s^-1. Furthermore, we were able to detect the TiO bands, K i and Na I absorption lines from the late-type secondary star. From the K i and Na i we extract a radial velocity curve, finding K_abs=309+/-19 km s^-1. We correct this velocity for possible non-uniform absorption around the surface of the secondary star and find K_2=290+/-19+/-18 km s^-1 (where the second error is due to possible systematics in the non-uniform absorption correction). We find that the spectral type of the secondary star is between M3.5 and 4.5 and that the accretion disc outshines the secondary star by a factor of between 4 and 12. This confirms the infrared results of Somers et al. that WY Sge has not entered hibernation. We constrain the mass of the white dwarf to be between 0.5 and 1.1Msolar, which is typical of the range of masses for white dwarfs in cataclysmic variables above the period gap.

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