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On the rapid spin-down and low-luminosity pulsed emission from AE Aquarii

Title
On the rapid spin-down and low-luminosity pulsed emission from AE Aquarii
Authors
Choi, CSYi, I
Ewha Authors
이인수
Issue Date
2000
Journal Title
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
ISSN
0004-637XJCR Link
Citation
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL vol. 538, no. 2, pp. 862 - 869
Keywords
accretion, accretion disksbinaries : closenovae, cataclysmic variablesstars : flarestars : individual (AE Aquarii)-ultraviolet : stars
Publisher
UNIV CHICAGO PRESS
Indexed
SCI; SCIE; SCOPUS WOS
Document Type
Article
Abstract
AE Aqr is an unusual close binary system with a very short white dwarf spin period, a high spin-down rate, a relatively low quiescent luminosity, and clear pulse signals. The exact nature of the large spin-down power has not been well explained mainly because the observed luminosities in various energy ranges are much lower than the spin-down power. We consider an unconventional picture of AE Aqr in which an accreting white dwarf, modeled as a magnetic dipole whose axis is misaligned with the spin axis, is rapidly spun down via gravitational radiation emission and therefore the spin-down power is not directly connected to any observable electromagnetic emission. The rapid spin-down is caused by the nonaxisymmetric polar mounds of accreted material slowly spreading away from the magnetic poles over the surface of the star. The effectiveness of the spin-down driven by the gravitational radiation depends on complex diffusion and thermonuclear burning of the accretion mound material. The accretion proceeds at high altitudes toward the magnetic poles of the white dwarf, while a large fraction of the inflowing material is ejected in a propeller-like manner. Based on the observed quiescent X-ray and UV emission, the magnetic field strength is estimated as similar to 1 x 10(5)eta(X)(-1/2) G and the mass accretion rate as similar to 1 x 10(15)eta(X)(-1) g s(-1), where eta(X) < 1 is the X-ray radiative efficiency. A large fraction of the accreted mass is flung out by the propeller action, and similar to 50% of the accreted material arrives at the magnetic poles. The electromagnetic dipole emission is expected at the level of similar to 1 x 10(29)eta(X)(-1) ergs s(-1), which suggests that, for eta(X) similar to 0.1, the observed radio luminosity could be well accounted for by dipole radiation.
DOI
10.1086/309149
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자연과학대학 > 물리학전공 > Journal papers
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