Publication Details

AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS

SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH

earth and planetary sciences

A spectroscopic, photometric, polarimetric, and radio study of the eclipsing polar UZ Fornacis: The first simultaneous SALT and MeerKAT observations

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, No. 3, Year 2020

We present phase-resolved spectroscopy, photometry, and circular spectropolarimetry of the eclipsing polar UZ Fornacis. Doppler tomography of the strongest emission lines using the inside-out projection revealed the presence of three emission regions: From the irradiated face of the secondary star, the ballistic stream and the threading region, and the magnetically confined accretion stream. The total intensity spectrum shows broad emission features and a continuum that rises in the blue. The circularly polarized spectrum shows the presence of three cyclotron emission harmonics at∼4500, 6000, and 7700 Å, corresponding to harmonic numbers 4, 3, and 2, respectively. These features are dominant before the eclipse and disappear after the eclipse. The harmonics are consistent with a magnetic field strength of ∼57 MG. We also present phase-resolved circular and linear photopolarimetry to complement the spectropolarimetry around the times of eclipse. MeerKAT radio observations show a faint source that has a peak flux density of 30.7 ± 5.4 μJy beam-1 at 1.28 GHz at the position of UZ For.

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Citations: 20
Authors: 20
Affiliations: 9
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Environmental