1999/12/21 by J. Kube, Kube, J., B. T. Gaensicke +3
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #FOS: Physical sciences #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9912442
11 pages, 14 figures, accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics
arxiv created 1999/12/21 · openalex publication_date 1999/12/21 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We present a new method to map the surface brightness of the accretion streams in AM Herculis systems from observed light curves. Extensive tests of the algorithm show that it reliably reproduces the intensity distribution of the stream for data with a signal-to-noise ratio >5. As a first application, we map the accretion stream emission of Civ lambda 1550 in the polar UZ Fornacis using HST FOS high state spectra. We find three main emission regions along the accretion stream: (1) On the ballistic part of the accretion stream, (2) on the magnetically funneled stream near the primary accretion spot, and (3) on the magnetically funneled stream at a position above the stagnation region.