Resynchronization of the Asynchronous Polar CD Ind. (16th March 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Myers, Gordon; Patterson, Joseph; Miguel, Enrique de; Hambsch, Franz-Josef; Monard, Berto; Bolt, Greg; McCormick, Jennie; Rea, Robert; Allen, William
• Is Part Of: Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Volume 129:Number 974(2017)
• Publication Date: 2017-03-16
• Subjects: cataclysmic variables -- novae -- stars: individual (CD Ind -- V1432 Aql -- BY Cam -- V1500 Cyg; Astronomy -- Periodicals; Astronomy; Periodicals; Periodicals; 520.5
• DOI: 10.1088/1538-3873/aa54a8
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0004-6280

Abstract

Abstract: CD Ind is one of only four confirmed asynchronous polars (APs). APs are strongly magnetic cataclysmic variables of the AM Herculis subclass with the characteristic that their white dwarfs rotate a few percent out of synchronism with their binary orbit. Theory suggests that nova eruptions disrupt previously synchronized states. Following the eruption, the system is expected to rapidly resynchronize over a timescale of centuries. The other three asynchronous polars—V1432 Aql, BY Cam, and V1500 Cyg—have resynchronization time estimates ranging from 100 to more than 3500 years, with all but one being less than 1200 years. We report on the analysis of over 46, 000 observations of CD Ind taken between 2007 and 2016, combined with previous observations from 1996, and estimate a CD Ind resynchronization time of 6400 ± 800 years. We also estimate an orbital period of 110.820(1) minutes and a current (2016.4) white dwarf spin period of 109.6564(1) minutes.