2002/08/27 by K. Schenker, A. R. King, U. Kolb +2 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Accretion (finance) #Accretion disc #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Cataclysmic variable star #Dwarf nova #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Intermediate polar #Physics #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #White dwarf #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2002.05999.x
published as Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc. 337 (2002) 1105 · 9 pages, 10 figures; accepted for publication in MNRAS
arxiv created 2002/08/27 · openalex publication_date 2002/12/11 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
AE Aquarii (AE Aqr) is a propeller system. It has the shortest spin period among cataclysmic variables (CVs), and this is increasing on a 107 yr time-scale. Its ultraviolet spectrum shows very strong carbon depletion versus nitrogen, and its secondary mass indicates a star far from the zero-age main sequence. We show that these properties strongly suggest that AE Aqr has descended from a supersoft X-ray binary. We calculate the evolution of systems descending through this channel, and show that many of them end as AM CVn systems. The short spin-down time-scale of AE Aqr requires a high birth rate for such systems, implying that a substantial fraction of cataclysmic variables must have formed in this way. A simple estimate suggests that this fraction could be of the order of one-third of current CVs. We emphasize the importance of measurements of the C/N abundance ratio in CVs, particularly via the C iv 1550/N v 1238 ratio, in determining how large the observed fraction is.