Analyzing data from ESA’s XMM-Newton and Gaia satellites, astronomers from the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics (AIP) in Potsdam, Germany, and elsewhere have discovered a new magnetic catastrophe system, most likely of a polar type. The discovery was reported in a research paper published on the preprocessing server on March 21. arXiv.

CVs are binary star systems consisting of a white dwarf and an ordinary companion star. Their brightness increases significantly, unevenly, and then they return to their resting state. Polaris is a subclass of cataclysmic variables that differs from other CVs by having a very strong magnetic field in its white dwarfs.

A team of astronomers led by AIP’s Samet Ok identified the new cataclysmic variable, called XMM-J152737.4-205305.9 (or XMM 152737 for short), in the catalog of CV candidates published by Gaia Data Release 3 (DR3). Newton archive.

“We mapped the source coordinates in this catalog to detect and identify new magnetic catastrophe variables [DR3] “In the XMM-Newton data archive,” the researchers write in the paper.

According to the research, XMM 152737 has a singular period that matches the synchronous rotation characteristic seen in polar ice caps. The system exhibits harmonics in its power spectrum and has a relatively short orbital period typically seen at the known poles.

The source was found to exhibit two distinct dips that repeated over a precise period of approximately 112.4 minutes. Scientists explained that such failures could occur due to the dimming of the white dwarf by the donor star or the dimming of the accretion zone on the white dwarf due to the accretion flow.

Observations show that XMM 152737 has distinct emission lines corresponding to hydrogen and helium. This discovery strongly suggests that the object is a disruptive variable of polar type.

The study found that XMM 152737 is approximately 3,770 light-years away from Earth and its X-ray luminosity is estimated at 30-60 billion erg/s. The authors of the paper estimate that the white dwarf and the secondary star have masses of 0.8 and 0.14 solar masses, respectively, assuming the system dims.

As a result, the researchers noted that further observations of XMM 152737 are needed to determine the origin of the dips observed in this system. This may shed further light on the properties of this disruptive variant and confirm its polar classification.