On the rapid variability of AM Her.
Abstract
New observations of the rapid brightness flickering of AM Her are presented, with 10 hours of data from three nights and with a time resolution of 1.6 s, and the statistical properties of the flickering are described. The flickering is assumed to be the superposition of bursts produced as individual clumps in the accretion flow encounter the region of strong emission just above the surface of the white dwarf at the magnetic poles. A statistical shot-noise analysis is then appropriate, and a pulse duration of 70-90 s is determined, with many pulses overlapping at any instant. The clumps must then have the form of long, thin strings as they reach the emission region.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- November 1980
- DOI:
- 10.1086/158422
- Bibcode:
- 1980ApJ...241.1077P
- Keywords:
-
- Binary Stars;
- Light Curve;
- Variable Stars;
- Stellar Magnetic Fields;
- Stellar Mass Accretion;
- White Dwarf Stars;
- Astronomy