An Optical Study of the Flickering, Flaring, and Oscillations in the Unusual Cataclysmic Variable AE Aquarii.

Details An Optical Study of the Flickering, Flaring, and Oscillations in the Unusual Cataclysmic Variable AE Aquarii. An Optical Study of the Flickering, Flaring, and Oscillations in the Unusual Cataclysmic Variable AE Aquarii.

Jan 1993

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1993phdt........34w&link_type=abstract

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, 1993.Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-11, Section: B, page: 5

Computer Science

2

Scientific paper

AE Aquarii is an extraordinary cataclysmic variable because it exhibits unusually large amplitude flares and flickering, flare-like radio emission, variable linear polarization, etc. It also exhibits coherent oscillations (16.5 and 33.0 second periods) in the optical, UV, X-ray, and TeV gamma-ray bands. Using high-speed, multi-channel spectrophotometry, we find that the spectrum of the optical oscillations can be represented by a blackbody with temperature > 12,000K and area <3.3times 1018 square centimeters. This area is small compared to the area of the accretion disk, and suggests that the optical oscillations are not the result of the reprocessing of harder photons in the disk. We present the spectrum of a flare and show that it is similar to that of stellar flares. LTE modelling indicates optically -thin gas at about 8-12,000K. We find that the sum of a K-star spectrum and a disk model (6-10,000K hydrogen slab in LTE) can fit the spectrum of AE Aquarii reasonably well. We present high-speed, H-alpha spectrophotometry and find that the H-alpha flares lag and decay slower than the continuum flares. This phenomenon is seen in stellar flares, and further suggests that a similar mechanism is responsible for both kinds of flares. We measure absorption and emission-line radial velocities and derive an improved orbital ephemeris. The emission-line velocities are phase shifted by 75 degrees, and hence are unreliable tracers of the motion of the white dwarf. The oscillation pulse -timing delay orbit is not phase shifted, confirming that the oscillations arise from a region very close to the surface of the white dwarf. Using only the absorption lines we derive new estimates for the system parameters.

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