A Magnetic White Dwarf Binary, AE Aquarii, in the 3--79 keV Band with NuSTAR

The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) is the first hard X-ray focusing telescope operating in the 3--79 keV band. It was successfully launched in June 2012 and is observing the hard X-ray sky. AE Aquarii is a white dwarf in a 9.88 hr orbit with a main sequence star and is classified as a magnetized cataclysmic variable belonging to the DQ Herculis class. AE Aquarii is of particular interest, since Suzaku observations have suggested that the source can accelerate particles along the magnetic field lines, as rotation-powered neutron stars do. Suzaku detected hard X-ray radiation and possibly sharp X-ray pulsations from the source, which are attributed to the synchrotron emission of the accelerated particles. Here, we report on a 124 ks observation of AE Aquarii made with NuSTAR.