English

AE Aquarii represents a new subclass of Cataclysmic Variables

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 2012-07-24 v1

Abstract

We analyze properties of the unique nova-like star AE Aquarii identified with a close binary system containing a red dwarf and a very fast rotating magnetized white dwarf. It cannot be assigned to any of the three commonly adopted sub-classes of Cataclysmic Variables: Polars, Intermediate Polars, and Accreting non-magnetized White Dwarfs. Our study has shown that the white dwarf in AE Aqr is in the ejector state and its dipole magnetic moment is μ 1.5×1034Gcm3\mu ~ 1.5 \times 10^{34} G cm^3. It switched into this state due to intensive mass exchange between the system components during a previous epoch. A high rate of disk accretion onto the white dwarf surface resulted in temporary screening of its magnetic field and spin-up of the white dwarf to its present spin period. Transition of the white dwarf to the ejector state had occurred at a final stage of the spin-up epoch as its magnetic field emerged from the accreted plasma due to diffusion. In the frame of this scenario AE Aqr represents a missing link in the chain of Polars evolution and the white dwarf resembles a recycled pulsar.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1205.4330,
  title  = {AE Aquarii represents a new subclass of Cataclysmic Variables},
  author = {N. R. Ikhsanov and N. G. Beskrovnaya},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1205.4330},
  year   = {2012}
}

Comments

accepted for publication in Astronomy Reports (July 2012)