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Mass Measurement of Accreting Magnetic White Dwarfs with Hard X-Ray Spectroscopy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2016

M. Ishida
Affiliation:
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 229, JAPAN
R. Fujimoto
Affiliation:
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 229, JAPAN

Extract

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Accreting magnetic white dwarfs are usually found as component stars in Magnetic Cataclysmic Variables (MCVs), in which a white dwarf with B = 105-8 G accepts mass from a late type (secondary) star via Roche Lobe overflow. Matter from the secondary is funneled by the magnetic field and concentrates on the magnetic pole(s) of the white dwarf. Since the accretion flow becomes highly supersonic, a standing shock wave is formed close to the white dwarf. The temperature of the plasma at the shock front reflects the gravitational potential and can be denoted as a function of the mass (M) and the radius (R) of the white dwarf as:

Note here that the height of the shock is expected to be within 10% of the white dwarf radius, and hence neglected here.

Type
Session 3: Diagnostics of High Gravity Objects with X- and Gamma Rays
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1998 

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