2003/05/08 by K. Mukai, M. Still, F. A. Ringwald · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/376752
published as Astrophys.J. 594 (2003) 428-434 · 18 pages including 4 figures, accepted for publication in Astrphyisical Journal
arxiv created 2003/05/08 · openalex publication_date 2003/08/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
DQ Herculis (Nova Herculis 1934) is a deeply eclipsing cataclysmic variable containing a magnetic white dwarf primary. The accretion disk is thought to block our line of sight to the white dwarf at all orbital phases because of its extreme inclination angle. Nevertheless, soft X-rays were detected from DQ Her with the ROSAT PSPC. To probe the origin of these soft X-rays, we have performed Chandra ACIS observations. We confirm that DQ Her is an X-ray source. The bulk of the X-rays are from a pointlike source and exhibit a shallow partial eclipse. We interpret this as being due to scattering of the unseen central X-ray source, probably in an accretion disk wind. At the same time, we observe what appear to be weak extended X-ray features around DQ Her, which we interpret as an X-ray-emitting knot in the nova shell.