The First Direct Measurement of the Magnetic Fields in the White Dwarfs of Intermediate Polars: Spectroscopy of their Mid-Infrared Cyclotron Features

Details The First Direct Measurement of the Magnetic Fields in the White Dwarfs of Intermediate Polars: Spectroscopy of their Mid-Infrared Cyclotron Features The First Direct Measurement of the Magnetic Fields in the White Dwarfs of Intermediate Polars: Spectroscopy of their Mid-Infrared Cyclotron Features

Jun 2005

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005sptz.prop20003h&link_type=abstract

Spitzer Proposal ID #20003

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Scientific paper

Intermediate Polars (IPs) are a type of magentic cataclysmic variable that are believed to contain a magnetic white dwarf with a field strength of less than 10 MG. This weaker magnetic field allows the formation of an accretion disk, so IPs exhibit behavior that spans that of both magnetic, and non-magnetic cataclysmic variables. Yet we still do not have observational proof that the canonical model for IPs is correct: There has never been a direct determination of the magentic field strength for an IP system. The reasons for this are twofold. First, unlike the Polars, IPs do not go into deep quiescence where the photosphere of the white dwarf is visible. During those times it is straightforward to measure the magnetic field strength of a Polar due to the Zeeman splitting of the photospheric hydrogen lines. Secondly, due to the high magnetic fields in Polars, the cyclotron harmonics are visible in optical and near- infrared spectra. The lack of such features in the optical and near-infrared spectra of IPs suggests that the magnetic fields of the white dwarf are below 10 MG. If so, the "humps" from the cyclotron emission will occur in the mid-infrared. We propose to use the IRS on Spitzer to detect the mid-infrared cyclotron humps for the ten brightest IPs. Using spectra from the SL2, SL1 and LL1 modes, we will be able to directly determine the magnetic field strength in IPs for the first time. In addition, other parameters associated with the magnetic accretion (e.g., optical depth and plasma temperature) will also be derived. Our project requires 9.8 hrs of Spitzer time.

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