OPTICAL AND X-RAY STUDIES OF 10 X-RAY-SELECTED CATACLYSMIC BINARIES

Journal Article · Fri Nov 01 04:00:00 EDT 2013 · Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/146/5/107· OSTI ID:22273343

Thorstensen, John R. ^[1]; Halpern, Jules ^[2]

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755 (United States)
2. Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University, 550 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027 (United States)

We report on ground-based optical observations of 10 cataclysmic binaries that were discovered through their X-ray emission. Time-resolved radial velocity spectroscopy yields unambiguous orbital periods for eight objects and ambiguous results for the remaining two. The orbital periods range from 87 minutes to 9.38 hr. We also obtained time-series optical photometry for six targets, four of which have coherent pulsations. These periods are 1218 s for 1RXS J045707.4+452751, 628 s for AX J1740.2–2903, 477 s for AX J1853.3–0128, and 935 s for IGR J19267+1325. A total of seven of the sources have coherent oscillations in X-rays or optical, indicating that they are intermediate polars (DQ Herculis stars). Time-resolved spectroscopy of one object, Swift J2218.4+1925, shows that it is an AM Herculis star, or polar, and IGR J19552+0044 may also be in that class. For another object, Swift J0746.2–1611, we find an orbital period of 9.384 hr and detect the spectrum of the secondary star. The secondary's spectral contribution implies a distance of 900 (+190, –150) pc, where the error bars are estimated using a Monte Carlo technique to account for correlated uncertainties.

• OSTI ID: 22273343
• Journal Information: Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online), Journal Name: Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online) Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 146; ISSN 1538-3881
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ASTRONOMY
ASTROPHYSICS
BINARY STARS
MONTE CARLO METHOD
NOVAE
OSCILLATIONS
PHOTOMETRY
PHOTON EMISSION
PULSATIONS
RADIAL VELOCITY
TIME RESOLUTION
X RADIATION