posted on 2012-10-24, 09:21authored byA. R. King, J. P. Osborne, K. Schenker
We show that the recently discovered short period supersoft source in M31 is probably a progenitor of a magnetic cataclysmic variable (CV). The white dwarf spins asynchronously because of the current high accretion rate. However its fieldstrength is typical of an AM Herculis system, which is what it will ultimately become. We discuss the relevance of this system to CV evolution, and its relation to some particular CVs with special characteristics.
Funding
Research in theoretical astrophysics and X-ray astronomy at
Leicester is supported by PPARC rolling grants. This research has
made use of data obtained from the Leicester Database and Archive
Service at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Leicester
University.
History
Citation
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2002, 329 (2), pp. L43-L46
Published in
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP), Royal Astronomical Society