Synthetic Spectrum Constraints on a Model of the Cataclysmic Variable QU Carinae
Abstract
Neither standard model SEDs nor truncated standard model SEDs fit observed spectra of QU Carinae with acceptable accuracy over the range 900-3000 Å. Nonstandard model SEDs fit the observation set accurately. The nonstandard accretion disk models have a hot region extending from the white dwarf to R = 1.36RWD, a narrow intermediate-temperature annulus, and an isothermal remainder to the tidal cutoff boundary. The models include a range of \dot{M} values between 1.0 × 10-7 and 1.0 × 10-6 M⊙ yr-1 and limiting values of MWD between 0.6 and 1.2 M⊙. A solution with MWD = 1.2 M⊙ is consistent with an empirical mass-period relation. The set of models agree on a limited range of possible isothermal region Teff values between 14,000 and 18,000 K. The model-to-model residuals are so similar that it is not possible to choose a best model. The Hipparcos distance, 610 pc, is representative of the model results. The orbital inclination is between 40° and 60°.
Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555, and the NASA-CNES-CSA Far Ultraviolet Explorer, which is operated for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University under NASA contract NAS5-32985.- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- April 2008
- DOI:
- 10.1086/529118
- arXiv:
- arXiv:0801.0704
- Bibcode:
- 2008ApJ...676.1226L
- Keywords:
-
- novae;
- cataclysmic variables;
- stars: individual: constellation name: QU Carinae;
- white dwarfs;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 52 pages, 19 Figures