The discovery of UV oscillations in WZ SGE
Abstract
We report the discovery of ~28-s ultraviolet oscillations in the cataclysmic variable WZ Sge. The strength of the oscillations is strongly wavelength-dependent: the oscillation amplitude decreases rapidly from lambda~1500 to ~1250 A. We interpret this decrease as an indication that the spectrum of the oscillations contains a broad Lyalpha absorption line. This implies that the white dwarf photosphere is the origin of the oscillation signal: whether it is due to white dwarf pulsations or magnetically channelled accretion on to a rapidly spinning white dwarf remains unknown.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- November 1997
- DOI:
- Bibcode:
- 1997MNRAS.291L..57W
- Keywords:
-
- Ultraviolet Radiation;
- Stellar Radiation;
- Cataclysmic Variables;
- Oscillations;
- Novae;
- White Dwarf Stars;
- Astrophysics;
- STARS: INDIVIDUAL: WZ SGE;
- NOVAE;
- CATACLYSMIC VARIABLES;
- STARS: OSCILLATIONS;
- WHITE DWARFS;
- ULTRAVIOLET: STARS