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On the nature of the symbiotic binary AX PerseiPhotometric and spectroscopic observations of the symbiotic binary AX Persei are presented. This system contains a red giant that fills its tidal lobe and transfers material into an accretion disk surrounding a low-mass main-sequence star. The stellar masses - 1 solar mass for the red giant and about 0.4 solar mass for the companion - suggest AX Per is poised to enter a common envelope phase of evolution. The disk luminosity increases from L(disk) about 100 solar luminosity in quiescence to L(disk) about 5700 solar luminosity in outburst for a distance of d = 2.5 kpc. Except for visual maximum, high ionization permitted emission lines - such as He II - imply an EUV luminosity comparable to the disk luminosity. High-energy photons emitted by a hot boundary layer between the disk and central star ionize a surrounding nebula to produce this permitted line emission. High ionization forbidden lines form in an extended, shock-excited region well out of the binary's orbital plane and may be associated with mass loss from the disk.
Document ID
19920039321
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Mikolajewska, Joanna
(Torun, University Poland)
Kenyon, Scott J.
(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, MA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 15, 2013
Publication Date
February 1, 1992
Publication Information
Publication: Astronomical Journal
Volume: 103
ISSN: 0004-6256
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Accession Number
92A21945
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAG5-1709
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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