Polarimetric Variations of Binary Stars. VI. Orbit-Induced Variations in the Pre-Main-Sequence Binary AK Scorpii

We present simultaneous UBV polarimetric and photometric observations of the pre-main-sequence binary AK Sco, obtained over 12 nights, slightly less than the orbital period of 13.6 days. The polarization is a sum of interstellar and intrinsic polarization, with a significant intrinsic polarization of 1% at 5250 Å, indicating the presence of circumstellar matter distributed in an asymmetric geometry. The polarization and its position angle are clearly variable on timescales of hours and nights in all three wavelengths, with a behavior related to the orbital motion. The variations have the highest amplitudes seen so far for pre-main-sequence binaries (~1% and ~30°) and are sinusoidal with periods similar to the orbital period and half of it. The polarization variations are generally correlated with the photometric ones: when the star gets fainter, it also gets redder, and its polarization increases. The (B-V, V) color-magnitude diagram exhibits a ratio of total to selective absorption R=4.3, higher than in normal interstellar clouds (R=3.1). The interpretation of the simultaneous photometric and polarimetric observations is that a cloud of circumstellar matter passes in front of the star, decreasing the amount of direct, unpolarized light and hence increasing the contribution of scattered (blue) light. We show that the large amplitude of the polarization variations cannot be reproduced with a single-scattering model and axially symmetric circumbinary or circumstellar disks.

Based on observations made with the ESO telescopes at the La Silla Observatory.