Voracious vortexes in cataclysmic variables. A multi-epoch tomographic study of HT Cassiopeia

We present multi-epoch, time-resolved optical spectroscopic observations of the dwarf nova HT Cas, obtained during 1986, 1992, 1995 and 2005 with the aim to study the properties of emission structures in the system. We determined that the accretion disc radius, measured from the double-peaked emission line profiles, is persistently large and lies within the range of 0.45-0.52a, where a is the binary separation. This is close to the tidal truncation radius r_max=0.52a. This result contradicts with previous radius measurements. An extensive set of Doppler maps has revealed a very complex emission structure of the accretion disc. Apart from a ring of disc emission, the tomograms display at least three areas of enhanced emission: the hot spot from the area of interaction between the gas stream and the disc, which is superposed on the elongated spiral structure, and the extended bright region on the leading side of the disc, opposite to the location of the hot spot. The position of the hot spot in all the emission lines is consistent with the trajectory of the gas stream. However, the peaks of emission are located in the range of distances 0.22-0.30a, which are much closer to the white dwarf than the disc edge. This suggests that the outer disc regions have a very low density, allowing the gas stream to flow almost freely before it starts to be seen as an emission source. We have found that the extended emission region in the leading side of the disc is always observed at the very edge of the large disc. Observations of other cataclysmic variables, which show a similar emission structure in their tomograms, confirm this conclusion. We propose that the leading side bright region is caused by irradiation of tidally thickened sectors of the outer disc by the white dwarf and/or hot inner disc regions.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures. Minor modifications to match version published by Astronomy & Astrophysic

Propagation of axions in a strongly magnetized medium

The polarization operator of an axion in a degenerate gas of electrons occupying the ground-state Landau level in a superstrong magnetic field $H\gg H_0=m_e^2c^3/e\hbar =4.41\cdot 10^{13}$ G is investigated in a model with a tree-level axion-electron coupling. It is shown that a dynamic axion mass, which can fall within the allowed range of values $(10^{-5} eV \lesssim m_a\lesssim 10^{-2} eV)$, is generated under the conditions of strongly magnetized neutron stars. As a result, the dispersion relation for axions is appreciably different from that in a vacuum.Comment: RevTex, no figures, 13 pages, Revised version of the paper published in J. Exp. Theor. Phys. {\bf 88}, 1 (1999

Lepton pair production by high-energy neutrino in an external electromagnetic field

The process of the lepton pair production by a neutrino propagating in an external electromagnetic field is investigated in the framework of the Standard Model. Relatively simple exact expression for the probability as the single integral is obtained, which is suitable for a quantitative analysis.Comment: 9 pages, LATEX, 2 PS figures, submitted to Modern Physics Letters

Neutrino dispersion in external magnetic fields

We calculate the neutrino self-energy operator Sigma (p) in the presence of a magnetic field B. In particular, we consider the weak-field limit e B << m_\ell^2, where m_\ell is the charged-lepton mass corresponding to the neutrino flavor \nu_\ell, and we consider a "moderate field" m_\ell^2 << e B << m_W^2. Our results differ substantially from the previous literature. For a moderate field, we show that it is crucial to include the contributions from all Landau levels of the intermediate charged lepton, not just the ground-state. For the conditions of the early universe where the background medium consists of a charge-symmetric plasma, the pure B-field contribution to the neutrino dispersion relation is proportional to (e B)^2 and thus comparable to the contribution of the magnetized plasma.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure, revtex. Version to appear in Phys. Rev. D (presentation improved, reference list revised, numerical error in Eq.(41) corrected, conclusions unchanged