English

T Pyxidis: The First Cataclysmic Variable with a Collimated Jet

Astrophysics 2009-10-30 v1

Abstract

We present the first observational evidence for a collimated jet in a cataclysmic variable system; the recurrent nova T Pyxidis. Optical spectra show bipolar components of Hα\alpha with velocities 1400km/s\sim 1400 km/s, very similar to those observed in the supersoft X-ray sources and in SS 433. We argue that a key ingredient of the formation of jets in the supersoft X-ray sources and T Pyx (in addition to an accretion disk threaded by a vertical magnetic field), is the presence of nuclear burning on the surface of the white dwarf.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/9704292,
  title  = {T Pyxidis: The First Cataclysmic Variable with a Collimated Jet},
  author = {T. Shahbaz and M. Livio and K. A. Southwell and P. A. Charles},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/9704292},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

10 pages 2 figures to appear in ApJ Letters