Publications
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MPIfR Optical & Infrared Interferometry Group

N.R. Ikhsanov and N.G. Beskrovnaya:

Evidence for the spin-powered pulsar-like white dwarf in AE Aquarii

Astronomische Gesellschaft Abstract Series (AGM 18, P102)
Five Days of Creation: Astronomy with Large Telescopes from Ground and Space
Annual Scientific Meeting of the Astronomische Gesellschaft at the Joint European and National Meeting JENAM 2001 of the European Astronomical Society and the Astronomische Gesellschaft, Sep 10-15, 2001, Munich, Germany

Abstract. The degenerate companion of the close binary system AE Aquarii is the white dwarf rotating with the 33 s period, which is spinning down with the rate dot{P} = 5.64 × 10-14 s s-1. Under this condition the spindown power, Lsd= IΩdot{Ω}~= 6× 1033 erg s-1, proves to be larger than the observed UV and X-ray luminosities of the system by a factor of 120 and even than its bolometrical luminosity by a factor of more than five. The interpretation of this phenomenon under various assumptions about the state of the white dwarf is the subject of this contribution. We report the presently derived parameters of the white dwarf and show that its rapid braking can be explained in terms of the canonical spin-powered pulsar mechanism provided the magnetic moment of the white dwarf ~ 1.4 1034 G cm3 (that implies the magnetic field strength at its surface of 50 MG). The model of AE Aqr in the frame of this approach as well as the possible origin of the fast rotating, strongly magnetized white dwarf are discussed. We conclude that the spin-powered pulsar-like white dwarf model is currently the most plausible interpretation of AE Aqr.

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