Spectroscopy of Nine Cataclysmic Variable Stars
Abstract
We present optical spectroscopy of nine cataclysmic binary stars, mostly dwarf novae, obtained primarily to determine orbital periods Porb. The stars and their periods are LX And, 0.1509743(5) days; CZ Aql, 0.2005(6) days; LU Cam, 0.1499686(4) days; GZ Cnc, 0.0881(4) days; V632 Cyg, 0.06377(8) days; V1006 Cyg, 0.09903(9) days; BF Eri, 0.2708804(4) days; BI Ori, 0.1915(5) days; and FO Per, for which Porb is either 0.1467(4) or 0.1719(5) days. Several of the stars proved to be especially interesting. In BF Eri, we detect the absorption spectrum of a secondary star of spectral type K3 +/- 1 subclass, which leads to a distance estimate of ~1 kpc. However, BF Eri has a large proper motion (~100 mas yr-1), and we have a preliminary parallax measurement that confirms the large proper motion and yields only an upper limit for the parallax. BF Eri's space velocity is evidently large, and it appears to belong to the halo population. In CZ Aql, the emission lines have strong wings that move with large velocity amplitude, suggesting a magnetically channeled accretion flow. The orbital period of V1006 Cyg places it squarely within the 2 to 3 hr ``gap'' in the distribution of cataclysmic binary orbital periods.
Based on observations obtained at the MDM Observatory, operated by Dartmouth College, Columbia University, Ohio State University, Ohio University, and the University of Michigan.- Publication:
-
Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
- Pub Date:
- May 2007
- DOI:
- 10.1086/518698
- arXiv:
- arXiv:0704.0948
- Bibcode:
- 2007PASP..119..494S
- Keywords:
-
- Stars;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 31 pages, 5 postscript and one PNG figure. Accepted for PASP