Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Pulsations And Accretion Geometry In Yy Draconis: A Study Based On Hubble Space Telescope Observations, Carole A. Haswell, Joseph Patterson, John R. Thorstensen, Coel Hellier

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present 1 Å resolution fast ultraviolet spectroscopy of YY Dra, coordinated U, B, V, R, and I photometry, and Hα spectroscopy. The UV continuum is strongly pulsed: we found 16% semiamplitude pulses with period 264.7(1) s; there was no evidence for power at twice this period. The UBV pulses are in phase with the UV continuum pulsation. A color temperature of 10⁵ K was found for the pulse spectrum, with a corresponding area 0.5% of the white dwarf surface. We refine the white dwarf spin period, obtaining P_spin = 529.31 ± 0.02 s. Optical pulses at …