1 research outputs found
Spiral shocks in the accretion disc of IP Peg during outburst maximum
In response to our recent discovery of spiral arms in the accretion disc of
IP Peg during rise to outburst, we have obtained time-resolved
spectrophotometry of IP Peg during outburst maximum. In particular, indirect
imaging of HeII 4686, using Doppler tomography, shows a two-arm spiral pattern
on the disc image, which confirms repeatability over different outbursts. The
jump in HeII intensity (a factor of more than two) and in velocity (~200--300
km/s) clarifies the shock nature of the spiral structure. The HeII shocks show
an azimuthal extent of ~90 degrees, a shallow power-law emissivity ~V^{-1}, an
upper limit of 30 degrees in opening angle, and a flux contribution of 15 per
cent of the total disc emission. We discuss the results in view of recent
simulations of accretion discs which show that spiral shocks can be raised in
the accretion disc by the secondary star.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, MNRAS journal paper. in pres