SWIFT J0503.7-2819: A nearly synchronous intermediate polar below the period gap?

Rawat, Nikita; Pandey, JC; Joshi, Arti; Scaringi, Simone; Yadava, Umesh

doi:10.1093/mnras/stac2723

SWIFT J0503.7-2819: A nearly synchronous intermediate polar below the period gap?

Rawat, Nikita; Pandey, JC; Joshi, Arti; Scaringi, Simone; Yadava, Umesh

Authors

Nikita Rawat

JC Pandey

Arti Joshi

Dr Simone Scaringi simone.scaringi@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Umesh Yadava

Abstract

Based on the X-ray observations from XMM-Newton and Swift, and optical observations from Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and AAVSO, we present temporal and spectral properties of probable intermediate polar SWIFT J0503.7-2819. The X-ray light curve shows two distinctive features, where possibly the second pole seems to be active during the middle of the XMM-Newton observations. Present analysis confirms and also refines the previously reported orbital period of SWIFT J0503.7-2819 as 81.65±0.04 min. The X-ray and optical variations of this target have been found to occur at the period of ∼ 65 min, which we propose as the spin period of the white dwarf (WD). The energy-dependent modulation at this period, which are due to the photoelectric absorption in the accretion flow, also assures this conjecture. Two temperature thermal plasma model well explains the X-ray spectra with temperatures of ∼ 150 eV and ∼ 18.5 keV, which is absorbed by a dense material with an average equivalent hydrogen column density of 3.8 × 1022 cm−2 that partially covers ∼ 27% of the X-ray source. An attempt is made to understand the accretion flow in this system using the present data of SWIFT J0503.7-2819. If the proposed spin period is indeed the actual period, then SWIFT J0503.7-2819 could be the first nearly synchronous intermediate polar below the period gap.

Citation

Rawat, N., Pandey, J., Joshi, A., Scaringi, S., & Yadava, U. (2022). SWIFT J0503.7-2819: A nearly synchronous intermediate polar below the period gap?. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 517(2), 1667-1677. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac2723

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	2022-12
Deposit Date	Oct 11, 2022
Publicly Available Date	Mar 31, 2023
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN	0035-8711
Electronic ISSN	1365-2966
Publisher	Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	517
Issue	2
Pages	1667-1677
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac2723

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This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. ©: 2022 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.