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On the Statistics of AM Herculis Binaries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2016

Kinwah Wu
Affiliation:
Research Centre for Theoretical Astrophysics, School of Physics, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. [email protected]
Dayal T. Wickramasinghe
Affiliation:
ANU Astrophysical Theory Centre and Department of Mathematics, School of Mathematical Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia
Jianke Li
Affiliation:
High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80307, USA

Abstract

The magnetic field and orbital period distributions of AM Herculis binaries are investigated. Our study shows that (i) there is a significant lack of very-high-field magnetic white dwarfs in binaries when compared with isolated white dwarfs, and (ii) the difference between the period distributions of AM Herculis binaries and other cataclysmic variable subclasses is statistically significant. These results imply that the evolution and the birth of AM Herculis binaries are different from those of other cataclysmic variables.

Type
Galactic and Stellar
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 1995

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