2008/04/24 by J. Vogel, K. Byckling, A. Schwope +3 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Accretion (finance) #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Cataclysmic variable star #Intermediate polar #Light curve #Orbital period #Photometry (optics) #Physics #Polar #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #ROSAT #Spectral line #Stars #White dwarf #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20079341
Accepted for publication in A&A
arxiv created 2008/04/24 · openalex publication_date 2008/04/28 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We report the serendipituous discovery of the new eclipsing polar 2XMMp J131223.4+173659. Its striking X-ray light curve attracted immediate interest when we were visually inspecting the source products of the 2XMMp catalogue. This light curve revealed its likely nature as a magnetic cataclysmic variable of AM Herculis (or polar) type with an orbital period of ~92 min, which was confirmed by follow-up optical spectroscopy and photometry. 2XMMp J131223.4+173659 probably has a one-pole accretion geometry. It joins the group of now nine objects that show no evidence of a soft component in their X-ray spectra despite being in a high accretion state, thus escaping ROSAT/EUVE detection. We discuss the likely accretion scenario, the system parameters, and the spectral energy distribution.