Preliminary Hard X-Ray Results of AE Aquarii Observed with NuSTAR
Abstract
AE Aquarii is a cataclysmic variable with the fastest known rotating magnetized white dwarf (P = 33.08 s). It was observed with the NuSTAR imaging hard X-ray observatory to search for possible thermal emission above 10 keV and to identify a reported narrow feature in its pulse profile. The 3-30 keV phase-averaged spectrum is found to be well-fit by either an optically-thin thermal plasma model with a temperature of 3.9 keV plus power-law component with photon index of 2.2, or an optically-thin thermal plasma model with two temperatures of 2.3 keV and 8.7 keV, with the latter model being slightly preferred statistically. In the 3-30 keV hard energy band, we confirm a sinusoidal pulse profile with a pulsed fraction of 16.4 ± 2.4%. However, we were not able to reproduce the sharp pulse feature in the light curve in this band reported to be seen in a previous observation.
- Publication:
-
Thirteenth Marcel Grossmann Meeting: On Recent Developments in Theoretical and Experimental General Relativity, Astrophysics and Relativistic Field Theories
- Pub Date:
- January 2015
- DOI:
- 10.1142/9789814623995_0464
- Bibcode:
- 2015mgm..conf.2443K