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Spiral shocks in the accretion disc of IP Peg during outburst maximum

E. T. Harlaftis·D. Steeghs·K. Horne·E. Martin·A. Magazzu
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Abstract

In response to our recent discovery of spiral arms in the accretion disc of IP Peg during rise to outburst, we have obtained time-resolved spectrophotometry of IP Peg during outburst maximum. In particular, indirect imaging of HeII 4686, using Doppler tomography, shows a two-arm spiral pattern on the disc image, which confirms repeatability over different outbursts. The jump in HeII intensity (a factor of more than two) and in velocity (~200--300 km/s) clarifies the shock nature of the spiral structure. The HeII shocks show an azimuthal extent of ~90 degrees, a shallow power-law emissivity ~V^{-1}, an upper limit of 30 degrees in opening angle, and a flux contribution of 15 per cent of the total disc emission. We discuss the results in view of recent simulations of accretion discs which show that spiral shocks can be raised in the accretion disc by the secondary star.

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E. T. Harlaftis, D. Steeghs, K. Horne, E. Martin, A. Magazzu. 1999-03-30. Spiral shocks in the accretion disc of IP Peg during outburst maximum. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-8711.1999.02502.x

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