Intrinsic linear polarization of the eclipsing binary RS Canum Venaticorum.
Abstract
The linear polarization of RS CVn in uBVR bandpasses has been monitored from January 1973 through May 1977. An analysis of the data indicates that the system possesses intrinsic polarization that has displayed a trend of secularly declining variability over the last 5 years. The observed polarization variation and modified Rayleigh polarization spectrum are best interpreted as the result of scattering from cool transient circumstellar material that is probably ejected in clouds or streams from the active chromosphere of the K0 component. The data of the first part of 1973 indicate that a rather massive cloud may have been ejected into a quasi-Keplerian orbit of 142 solar radii for about 130 days before dispersing.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- August 1979
- DOI:
- 10.1086/157277
- Bibcode:
- 1979ApJ...232..181P
- Keywords:
-
- Eclipsing Binary Stars;
- Linear Polarization;
- Polarimetry;
- Rayleigh Scattering;
- Secular Variations;
- Sine Waves;
- Stellar Models;
- Astrophysics;
- Circumstellar Clouds:RS CVn Stars;
- Polarization:RS CVn Stars