Boundary-layer temperatures in high accretion rate cataclysmic variables

Open Access

1 April 1991

journal article
Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Vol. 249 (3) , 452-459
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/249.3.452

Abstract

We use the Zanstra method to derive limits on boundary-layer temperatures in eclipsing dwarf novae during outburst and nova-like variables, using the observed He IIλ1640 and λ4686 recombination lines. It is assumed that all the emission is produced in the wind rather than the accretion disc. This method constrains the boundary-layer temperatures to between 50 000 and 100 000 K depending on the degree of wind bipolarity. These estimates are lower than the T≳ 200 000 K predicted theoretically. Possible explanations include rapid rotation of the white dwarf and spreading of the boundary layer over the entire white-dwarf surface.

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