Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Is First J102347.6+003841 Really A Cataclysmic Binary?, John R. Thorstensen, Eve Armstrong

Dartmouth Scholarship

The radio source FIRST J102347.6+003841 was presented as the first radio-selected cataclysmic variable star. In the discovery paper, Bond et al. (2002) show a spectrum consistent with a magnetic AM Her–type system, or polar, featuring strong Balmer lines, He I and He II emission lines, and a light curve with rapid, irregular flickering. In contrast, Woudt, Warner, and Pretorius found a smoothly varying light curve with a period near 4.75 hr and one minimum per orbit, indicating that the state of the system had changed dramatically. We present time-resolved spectra showing a superficially normal, mid-G type photosphere, with no detectable …