Radio detections of two unusual cataclysmic variables in the VLA Sky Survey. Issue 4 (9th January 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ridder, M E; Heinke, C O; Sivakoff, G R; Hughes, A K
• Is Part Of: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Volume 519:Issue 4(2023)
• Page Start: 5922
• Page End: 5930
• Publication Date: 2023-01-09
• Subjects: stars: dwarf novae -- stars: individual: QS Vir -- stars: individual: V2400 Oph -- novae, cataclysmic variables -- radio continuum: stars; Astronomy -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 520.5
• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stad038
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0035-8711

Abstract

ABSTRACT: We report two new radio detections of cataclysmic variables (CVs), and place them in context with radio and X-ray detections of other CVs. We detected QS Vir, a low accretion-rate CV; V2400 Oph, a discless intermediate polar; and recovered the polar AM Her in the Very Large Array Sky Survey 2–4 GHz radio images. The radio luminosities of these systems are higher than typically expected from coronal emission from stars of similar spectral types, and neither system is expected to produce jets, leaving the origin of the radio emission a puzzle. The radio emission mechanism for these two CVs may be electron–cyclotron maser emission, synchrotron radiation, or a more exotic process. We compile published radio detections of CVs, and X-ray measurements of these CVs, to illustrate their locations in the radio–X-ray luminosity plane, a diagnostic tool often used for X-ray binaries, active galactic nuclei, and radio stars. Several radio-emitting CVs, including these two newly detected CVs, seem to lie near the principal radio/X-ray track followed by black hole X-ray binaries at low luminosity, suggesting additional complexity in classifying unknown systems using their radio and X-ray luminosities alone.