Editorial

Dr. France A. Córdova was appointed Purdue University’s eleventh president on July 16, 2007, as well as professor of physics and astronomy for the University. Prior to joining Purdue, she served as chancellor and distinguished professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California (UC) Riverside from 2002 to 2007. An internationally recognized astrophysicist, Córdova served from 1996 to 2002 as a professor of physics and vice chancellor for research at UC Santa Barbara and initiated a “Research Across Disciplines” program that funded and encouraged both interdisciplinary and “blue sky” projects. Before joining UC Santa Barbara, she was chief scientist at NASA from 1993 to 1996, serving as the primary scientific advisor to the NASA administration and the principal interface between NASA headquarters and the broader scientific community. In that role she evaluated the science mission and budget for NASA and worked with the National Science and Technology Council, federal government agencies, and National Academies on a broad range of science policy initiatives

First XMM-Newton observations of strongly magnetic cataclysmic variables I: spectral studies of DP Leo and WW Hor

We present an analysis of the X-ray spectra of two strongly magnetic cataclysmic variables, DP Leo and WW Hor, made using XMM-Newton. Both systems were in intermediate levels of accretion. Hard optically thin X-ray emission from the shocked accreting gas was detected from both systems, while a soft blackbody X-ray component from the heated surface was detected only in DP Leo. We suggest that the lack of a soft X-ray component in WW Hor is due to the fact that the accretion area is larger than in previous observations with a resulting lower temperature for the re-processed hard X-rays. Using a multi-temperature model of the post-shock flow, we estimate that the white dwarf in both systems has a mass greater than 1 Msun. The implications of this result are discussed. We demonstrate that the `soft X-ray excess' observed in many magnetic cataclysmic variables can be partially attributed to using an inappropriate model for the hard X-ray emission.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS as a letter, 5 pages, 2 figure

Editorial

Dr. France A. Córdova was appointed Purdue University’s eleventh president on July 16, 2007, as well as professor of physics and astronomy for the University. Prior to joining Purdue, she served as chancellor and distinguished professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California (UC) Riverside from 2002 to 2007. An internationally recognized astrophysicist, Córdova served from 1996 to 2002 as a professor of physics and vice chancellor for research at UC Santa Barbara and initiated a “Research Across Disciplines” program that funded and encouraged both interdisciplinary and “blue sky” projects. Before joining UC Santa Barbara, she was chief scientist at NASA from 1993 to 1996, serving as the primary scientific advisor to the NASA administration and the principal interface between NASA headquarters and the broader scientific community. In that role she evaluated the science mission and budget for NASA and worked with the National Science and Technology Council, federal government agencies, and National Academies on a broad range of science policy initiatives

Retracted. X-ray observations of PSR B0355+54 and its pulsar wind nebula (Astrophysics and Space Science, (2007), 308, 1-4, (309-316), 10.1007/s10509-007-9319-9)

Retraction Note to: Astrophys. Space. Sci. (2007) 308: 309–316https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-007-9319-9 The authors have retracted this article (McGowan et al. 2007) which was unintentionally submitted in full length as part of a conference proceedings. However, the authors had already published the article in another journal (McGowan et al. 2006). Therefore this article is redundant. All authors agree with this retraction.Paper was orginally published as K. E. McGowan, W. T. Vestrand, J. A. Kennea, S. Zane, M. Cropper, and F. A. Córdova (2006) 'Probing the Pulsar Wind Nebula of PSR B0355+54', The Astrophysical Journal, 647, 1300, 10.1086/505522</p