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Absorption by Cyclotron Harmonics in the Optical Spectrum of VV Puppis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

H.S. Stockman
Affiliation:
Steward Observatory, University of Arizona
James Liebert
Affiliation:
Steward Observatory, University of Arizona
Howard E. Bond
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University

Extract

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Most theoretical models of the AM Her variables (AM Her, AN UMa, W Pup and 2A0311-22) rely on strong cyclotron emission at the fundamental cyclotron frequency and higher harmonics to produce the observed, strongly-polarized optical continuum (e.g. Lamb and Masters 1979). The cyclotron lines, which presumably originate in the hot, isothermal accretion shock at the surface of the white dwarf (kT ≳ 10 keV, h/R* ≲ 0.1), should be blurred into a continuous spectrum by both optical depth effects and electron Doppler broadening. Thus the lack of even weak cyclotron features in the optical spectra of these objects is still compatible with a cyclotron origin.

Type
Colloquium Session V
Copyright
Copyright © The University of Rochester 1979

References

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