Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userMagnetic field and unstable accretion during AM Herculis low states
80
0
0.0
(
0
)
Added by
J. M. Bonnet-Bidaud
Publication date
2000
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
Authors
J.M. Bonnet-Bidaud
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
A study of AM Her low states in September 1990 and 1991 and June-July 1997 is reported from a coordinated campaign with observations obtained at the Haute-Provence observatory, at the 6-m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory and at the 2.6m and 1.25m telescopes of the Crimean observatory. Spectra obtained at different dates when the source was in low states at a comparable V magnitude, show the presence of strong Zeeman absorption features and marked changes in emission lines with a day-to-day reappearance of the HeII (4686AA) emission lines in 1991. Despite this variability, the magnetic field inferred from the fitting of the absorption spectrum with Zeeman hydrogen splitting, is remarkably constant with a best value of (12.5$pm$0.5)MG. Detailed analysis of the UBVRI light curves shows the presence of repetitive moderate amplitude ($sim$ 0.3-0.5 mag) flares predominantly red in colour. These flares are attributed to small accretion events and are compared to the large ($sim$ 2 mag.) blue flare reported by Shakhovskoy et al. (1993). We suggest that the general flaring activity observed during the low states is generated by accretion events. The different characteristics of the flares (colour and polarization) are the results of different shock geometries depending on the net mass accretion flux.
rate research
Read More
We report on XMM-Newton and NuSTAR X-ray observations of the prototypical polar, AM Herculis, supported by ground-based photometry and spectroscopy, all obtained in high accretion states. In 2005, AM Herculis was in its regular mode of accretion, showing a self-eclipse of the main accreting pole. X-ray emission during the self-eclipse was assigned to a second pole through its soft X-ray emission and not to scattering. In 2015, AM Herculis was in its reversed mode with strong soft blobby accretion at the far accretion region. The blobby acretion region was more luminous than the other, persistently accreting, therefore called main region. Hard X-rays from the main region did not show a self-eclipse indicating a pronounced migration of the accretion footpoint. Extended phases of soft X-ray extinction through absorption in interbinary matter were observed for the first time in AM Herculis. The spectral parameters of a large number of individual soft flares could be derived. Simultaneous NuSTAR observations in the reversed mode of accretion revealed clear evidence for Compton reflection of radiation from the main pole at the white dwarf surface. This picture is supported by the trace of the Fe resonance line at 6.4 keV through the whole orbit. Highly ionized oxygen lines observed with the Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) were tentatively located at the bottom of the accretion column, although the implied densities are quite different from expectations. In the regular mode of accretion, the phase-dependent modulations in the ultraviolet (UV) are explained with projection effects of an accretion-heated spot at the prime pole. In the reversed mode projection effects cannot be recognized. The light curves reveal an extra source of UV radiation and extended UV absorbing dips. An Ha Doppler map obtained contemporaneously (abstract abridged)
The X-ray observation of AM Her in a very low state was performed with {it Suzaku} in October 2008. One flare event with a time scale of $sim$ 3700 sec was detected at the X-ray luminosity of $6.0 times 10^{29} {rm ~erg ~sec}^{-1}$ in the 0.5 -- 10 keV band assuming at a distance of 91 pc. The X-ray spectrum is represented by a thermal plasma emission model with a temperature of $8.67_{-1.14}^{+1.31}$ keV. During the quiescence out of the flare interval, {it Suzaku} also detected significant X-rays at a luminosity of $1.7 times 10^{29} {rm ~erg ~sec}^{-1}$ in the 0.5 -- 10 keV band, showing a clear spin modulation at a period of 0.1289273(2) days at BJD 2454771.581. The X-ray spectra in the quiescence were represented by a MEKAL + Power Law (PL) model or a single CEMEKL model, which are also supported by phase-resolved analyses. A correlation between the temperature and the volume emission measure was found together with historical X-ray measurements of AM Her in various states. In order to account for a possible non-thermal emission from AM Her, particle acceleration mechanisms in the AM Her system are also discussed, including a new proposal of a shock acceleration process on the top of the accretion column.
Polars (AM Herculis binaries) are a prominent class of bright soft X-ray sources, many of which were discovered with ROSAT. We present a homogenous analysis of all the pointed ROSAT PSPC observations of polars subdivided into two papers that discuss the prototype polar AM Her in detail and summarize the class properties of all other polars. We derive the high-state soft X-ray flux and short-term spectral variability of AM Her using a new detector response matrix and a confirmed flux calibration of the ROSAT PSPC below 0.28 keV. The best-fit mean single-blackbody temperature and integrated bright-phase energy flux of AM Her in its April 1991 high state are 27.2 +/- 1.0 eV and (2.6 +/- 0.6) x 10^-9 erg cm^-2s^-1, respectively. The total blackbody flux of a multi-temperature model that fits both the soft X-ray and the fluctuating far-ultraviolet components is Fbb = (4.5 +/- 1.5) x 10^-9 erg cm^-2s^-1. The total accretion luminosity at a distance of 80 pc, Lbb = (2.1 +/- 0.7) x 10^33 erg s-1, implies an accretion rate of Mdot = (2.4 +/- 0.8) x 10^-10 Msun yr^-1 for an 0.78 Msun white dwarf. The soft X-ray flux displays significant variability on time scales down to 200 ms. Correlated spectral and count-rate variations are seen in flares on time scales down to 1 s, demonstrating the heating and cooling associated with individual accretion events. Our spectral and temporal analysis provides direct evidence for the blobby accretion model and suggests a connection between the soft X-ray and the fluctuating far-ultraviolet components.
We report simultaneous UBVRI photo-polarimetric observations of the long period (7.98 h) AM Her binary V1309 Ori. The length and shape of the eclipse ingress and egress varies from night to night. We suggest this is due to the variation in the brightness of the accretion stream. By comparing the phases of circular polarization zero-crossovers with previous observations, we confirm that V1309 Ori is well synchronized, and find an upper limit of 0.002 percent for the difference between the spin and orbital periods. We model the polarimetry data using a model consisting of two cyclotron emission regions at almost diametrically opposite locations, and centered at colatitude 35 (deg) and 145 (deg) on the surface of the white dwarf. We also present archive X-ray observations which show that the negatively polarised accretion region is X-ray bright.
We use the integrated polarized radio emission at 1.4 GHz ($Pi_{rm 1.4,GHz}$) from a large sample of AGN (796 sources at redshifts $z<0.7$) to study the large-scale magnetic field properties of radio galaxies in relation to the host galaxy accretion state. We find a fundamental difference in $Pi_{rm 1.4,GHz}$ between radiative-mode AGN (i.e. high-excitation radio galaxies, HERGs, and radio-loud QSOs) and jet-mode AGN (i.e. low-excitation radio galaxies, LERGs). While LERGs can achieve a wide range of $Pi_{rm 1.4,GHz}$ (up to $sim$$30%$), the HERGs and radio-loud QSOs are limited to $Pi_{rm 1.4,GHz} lesssim 15%$. A difference in $Pi_{rm 1.4,GHz}$ is also seen when the sample is divided at 0.5% of the total Eddington-scaled accretion rate, where the weakly accreting sources can attain higher values of $Pi_{rm 1.4,GHz}$. We do not find any clear evidence that this is driven by intrinsic magnetic field differences of the different radio morphological classes. Instead, we attribute the differences in $Pi_{rm 1.4,GHz}$ to the local environments of the radio sources, in terms of both the ambient gas density and the magnetoionic properties of this gas. Thus, not only are different large-scale gaseous environments potentially responsible for the different accretion states of HERGs and LERGs, we argue that the large-scale magnetised environments may also be important for the formation of powerful AGN jets. Upcoming high angular resolution and broadband radio polarization surveys will provide the high precision Faraday rotation measure and depolarization data required to robustly test this claim.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
