A Microwave survey of selected Algol systems with the VLA.

The results are presented of a limited microwave survey of Algol-type systems carried out with the VLA. Seven of the fourteen observed systems were detected. The average radio luminosity at 6 cm L₆ turned out to be 1.58 x 10 exp 16 erg/s/Hz, and thus comparable to the median radio luminosity for the larger sample of RS CVn reported by Morris and Mutel (1988). The high values of the brightness temperature, obtained by assuming a characteristic dimension for the emission region, suggest a nonthermal origin for the radio emission. The observations are consistent with gyrosynchrotron emission from mildly relativistic electrons interacting with the magnetic field of the active component. This makes Algol-type systems comparable to the RS CVn class of binary radio sources.