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Orientations of AM Her stars from their polarization properties - The case of the missing AM Her starsObservation of the polarization properties of the AM Her stars is used to determine their orientations. It is found that the AM Her stars are randomly distributed with respect to their inclination angle i but not with respect to their magnetic colatitude delta. The stars are concentrated along the semicircle cos-squared delta + cos-squared i = 1, where delta is the angle between the magnetic moment and the spin axis of the degenerate dwarf. This result implies that the discovery of AM Her stars is strongly affected by observational selection effects. It is suggested that these effects are a result of the way in which the AM Her stars have been identified observationally, and of the angular properties of high harmonic cyclotron emission. It is estimated that there are about three times as many AM Her stars as have been found so far.
Document ID
19850066139
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Brainerd, J. J. (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, MA, United States)
Lamb, D. Q. (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, MA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 12, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1985
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Meeting Information
Meeting: Cataclysmic variables and low-mass X-ray binaries
Location: Cambridge, MA
Start Date: January 12, 1983
End Date: January 15, 1983
Accession Number
85A48290
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAG8-310
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAGW-246
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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