On the Location of the Oscillations in AE Aquarii

There is much recent interest on the nature of the oscillations in the cataclysmic variable AE Aquarii. Detected in the optical, UV, X-ray, and possibly gamma-ray bands, the origin of these 33-sec oscillations remains poorly understood; the oscillation time-delay curve is phase shifted by about 60 deg with respect to the emission-line radial velocity curve, although both should track the orbital motion of the white dwarf. We present simultaneous absorption and emission-line radial velocities, and from the absorption lines we derive an improved ephemeris. Our emission-line velocities are phase shifted by about 75 deg, and hence are unreliable tracers of the orbital motion of the white dwarf. However, the oscillation orbit is shifted by only 5 deg +/- 3 deg percent confirming that the oscillations arise from a region concentric with the white dwarf. Thus the arrival times of the oscillations yield a measure of the white dwarfs apparent orbital velocity, independent of emission-line radial velocity measurements.