Polarimetry of VV Puppis

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Abstract
Broadband simultaneous circular and linear polarization observations of VV Puppis during the years 1983–85 with time resolutions down to 20 s are presented. From the observed variations around orbit, an inclination ∼ 78° and a magnetic colatitude of the principal accreting pole ∼ 155° are derived. There is evidence that the accretion column moves around by ∼10° and that it is sited about 0.01 RWD above the surface of the white-dwarf primary. The question of whether VV Pup is an eclipsing system is discussed, but the situation remains unresolved. Polarized radiation from the vicinity of the second magnetic pole is probably present. A reasonable fit with the shock-front cyclotron-emission calculations of Wickramasinghe & Meggitt is obtained, and it is shown that the ratio of linear to circular polarization is a rough indicator of magnetic-field strength for broadband observations. Strong flaring activity on a time-scale of ∼25 is shown to be well correlated with flares observed simultaneously with EXOSAT. The fractional circular polarization during the flares remains constant.

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