Hot spot drift in synchronous and asynchronous polars: synthesis of light curves
Abstract
In this paper, the effect of hot spots movement by accretor surface on the appearance of bolometric light curves for two types of polars - synchronous V808 Aur and asynchronous CD Ind is studied. The analysis was carried out under the assumption of a dipole configuration of the magnetic field, in which the axis of the dipole passes through the accretor center. It is shown that a noticeable shift of the flow maximum at the light curve corresponding to the position of the spots in synchronous polars is determined by a change in the magnitude of mass transfer rate. At the same time, the maximum deviation of the spots from the magnetic poles was 30°. In asynchronous polars, assuming a constant of the mass transfer rate, the spots movement caused by a change in the orientation of the dipole axis relative to the donor has a significant effect on the appearance of light curve. The greatest displacement of the spots from the magnetic poles, which equals to 20°, was observed at the moments when the accretion jet switched from one pole to the other. It is concluded that the comparison of synthetic and observational light curves provides an opportunity to study the physical properties of polars.
- Publication:
-
The Predictive Power of Computational Astrophysics as a Discover Tool
- Pub Date:
- January 2023
- DOI:
- 10.1017/S1743921322001417
- Bibcode:
- 2023IAUS..362..228S
- Keywords:
-
- close binary star;
- polar;
- MHD;
- flow structure;
- donor;
- accretor;
- hot spot;
- temperature map