| Issue |
A&A
Volume 372, Number 2, June III 2001
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 557 - 562 | |
| Section | Interstellar and circumstellar matter | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20010522 | |
| Published online | 15 June 2001 | |
A model for the optical high state light curve of AM Herculis*
1
Universitäts-Sternwarte Göttingen, Geismarlandstr. 11, 37083 Göttingen, Germany
2
Osservatorio di Capodimonte, Via Moiariello 16, 80131 Napoli, Italy e-mail: demartin@na.astro.it, silvotti@na.astro.it
Corresponding author: B. Gänsicke, boris@uni-sw.gwdg.de
Received:
28
June
2000
Accepted:
4
April
2001
We present a simple quantitative model that can describe
the photometric B and V band light curves of AM Herculis obtained
during a high state. The double-humped shape of the V band light
curve is dominated by cyclotron emission from a region at the main
accreting pole with an area of ~
and
sustaining an inflow of ~0.06
. The almost unmodulated B band is dominated by emission from the accretion stream. The
contribution of the heated white dwarf to the optical emission is
small in the B band, but comparable to that of the accretion stream
in the V band. The emission of the secondary star is negligible
both in B and in V.
Key words: accretion / novae, cataclysmic variables / stars: binaries close / stars: individual: AM Her / stars: white dwarfs
© ESO, 2001
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