The Library
Polarimetric evidence of the first White Dwarf pulsar : the binary system AR Scorpii
Tools
Tools
Tools
Buckley, David, Potter, Stephen, Meintjes, Pieter, Marsh, Tom and Gänsicke, B. T. (Boris T.) (2018) Polarimetric evidence of the first White Dwarf pulsar : the binary system AR Scorpii. Galaxies, 6 (1). p. 14. doi:10.3390/galaxies6010014 ISSN 2075-4434.
Research output not available from this repository.
Request-a-Copy directly from author or use local Library Get it For Me service.
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/galaxies6010014
Abstract
The binary star AR Scorpii was recently discovered to exhibit high amplitude coherent variability across the electromagnetic spectrum (ultraviolet to radio) at two closely spaced ∼2 min periods, attributed to the spin period of a white dwarf and the beat period. There is strong evidence (low X-ray luminosity, lack of flickering and absense of broad emission lines) that AR Sco is a detached non-accreting system whose luminosity is dominated by the spin-down power of a white dwarf, due to magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) interactions with its M5 companion. Optical polarimetry has revealed highly pulsed linear polarization on the same periods, reaching a maximum of 40%, consistent with a pulsar-like dipole, with the Stokes Q and U variations reminiscent of the Crab pulsar. These observations, coupled with the spectral energy distribution (SED) which is dominated by non-thermal emission, characteristic of synchrotron emission, support the notion that a strongly magnetic (∼200 MG) white dwarf is behaving like a pulsar, whose magnetic field interacts with the secondary star’s photosphere and magnetosphere. Radio synchrotron emission is produced from the pumping action of the white dwarf’s magnetic field on coronal loops from the M-star companion, while emission at high frequencies (UV/optical/X-ray) comes from the particle wind, driven by large electric potential, again reminiscent of processes seen in neutron star pulsars.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Physics | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Galaxies | ||||||
| Publisher: | MDPI | ||||||
| ISSN: | 2075-4434 | ||||||
| Official Date: | 22 January 2018 | ||||||
| Dates: |
|
||||||
| Volume: | 6 | ||||||
| Number: | 1 | ||||||
| Page Range: | p. 14 | ||||||
| DOI: | 10.3390/galaxies6010014 | ||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
