The serendipituous discovery of a short-period eclipsing polar in 2XMMp
Abstract
We report the serendipituous discovery of the new eclipsing polar 2XMMp J131223.4+173659. Its striking X-ray light curve attracted immediate interest when we were visually inspecting the source products of the 2XMMp catalogue. This light curve revealed its likely nature as a magnetic cataclysmic variable of AM Herculis (or polar) type with an orbital period of ~92 min, which was confirmed by follow-up optical spectroscopy and photometry. 2XMMp J131223.4+173659 probably has a one-pole accretion geometry. It joins the group of now nine objects that show no evidence of a soft component in their X-ray spectra despite being in a high accretion state, thus escaping ROSAT/EUVE detection. We discuss the likely accretion scenario, the system parameters, and the spectral energy distribution.
Based on observations obtained with XMM-Newton, an ESA science mission with instruments and contributions directly funded by ESA Member States and NASA.- Publication:
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Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- July 2008
- DOI:
- 10.1051/0004-6361:20079341
- arXiv:
- arXiv:0804.3946
- Bibcode:
- 2008A&A...485..787V
- Keywords:
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- X-rays: stars;
- stars: binaries: eclipsing;
- stars: novae;
- cataclysmic variables;
- X-rays: binaries;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- Accepted for publication in A&