Multiple optical orbital sidebands in intermediate polars

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Abstract
Amplitudes and phases of the Fourier components of the light curve of the standard model of an intermediate polar are evaluated. For a white dwarf angular rotation frequency ω and orbital frequency Ω it is shown that as well as the well-known components with frequencies ω and ω–Ω there can exist sidebands at ω+Ω and ω–2Ω. The intermittent presence of the ω–2Ω component in V1223 Sgr and FO Aqr (H2215–035) provides an explanation of results for these stars which have previously been dismissed as spurious. Analyses of the stars V1223 Sgr, FO Aqr and AO Psc show that the observed orbital modulations of their brightnesses arise predominantly from the same source as in other cataclysmic variables, viz, a hotspot on the accretion disc, and not from reflection effect from the secondary star.

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