Simulating AXAF Grating Spectra of Accreting White Dwarfs

Allyn F. Tennant
Kinwah Wu
Stephen L. O'Dell
Martin C. Weisskopf

ES-84 Space Science Laboratory, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL 35812, USA
allyn.tennant@msfc.nasa.gov
Research Centre for Theoretical Astrophysics, School of Physics, University of Sydney, NSW 2006
kinwah@physics.usyd.edu.au
ES-84 Space Science Laboratory, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL 35812, USA
odell@cosmos.msfc.nasa.gov
ES-01 Space Science Laboratory, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL 35812, USA
martin@smoker.msfc.nasa.gov

Abstract:

We present simulated AXAF spectra of accreting white dwarfs, using parameters appropriate for magnetic cataclysmic variables. The very high spectral resolution that can be obtained with the High-Energy Transmission Grating of AXAF can resolve the keV X-ray emission lines that characterise the temperature, density and velocity profiles of the shock-heated emission regions of these systems. These simulations demonstrate that actual spectra will allow us to place constraints on the white-dwarf mass and the accretion rate of the systems. The high-resolution spectra also allow the measurement of the velocity of the accretion flow in regions close to the white-dwarf surface.

keywords: accretion  --  stars: binaries: close  --  stars: white dwarfs  --  data analysis

© Copyright Astronomical Society of Australia 1997