A comprehensive multi-epoch study of the magnetic CV prototype AM Herculis on its 30-year anniversary

Authors
Abstract:
Thirty years since its discovery AM Herculis, the magnetic Cataclysmic Variable prototype, continues to surprise us with the richness of phenomena present. We hereby present a multi-epoch spectroscopic study of the system covering more than a decade of its extraordinary behavior. Doppler maps during the regular accretion state (high state), illustrate the H\alpha and HeI emission components which trace the accretion stream and the irradiated inner hemisphere of the lower-mass main sequence donor star. During the low state, radial velocity curves of the various H\alpha components reveal large loop prominences on the magneticaly active secondary. The serendipitous spectroscopic detection of a rare optical low state "event", likely due to coronal mass ejection-induced accretion onto the magnetic white dwarf, is also presented. For the first time, our study offers a comprehensive picture of a Cataclysmic Variable at all times of optical behavior.
Session:
Presentation Type:
Poster
Contact Name:
Papadimitriou C.
Email:
cpap@astro.noa.gr
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