Back to Search Start Over

T Pyxidis: The First Cataclysmic Variable with a Collimated Jet

Authors :
Shahbaz, T
Livio, M
Southwell, K. A
Charles, P. A
Publication Year :
1997
Publisher :
United States: NASA Center for Aerospace Information (CASI), 1997.

Abstract

We present the first observational evidence for a collimated jet in a cataclysmic variable system; the recurrent nova T Pyxidis. Optical spectra show bipolar components of H(alpha) with velocities approx. 1400 km/s, very similar to those observed in the supersoft X-ray sources and in SS 433. We argue that a key ingredient of the formation of jets in the supersoft X-ray sources and T Pyx (in addition to an accretion disk threaded by a vertical magnetic field), is the presence of nuclear burning on the surface of the white dwarf.

Subjects

Subjects :
Astrophysics

Details

Language :
English
Database :
NASA Technical Reports
Notes :
NAGw-2678, , GO-4377
Publication Type :
Report
Accession number :
edsnas.19970020427
Document Type :
Report