AM CVn - System Parameters and Gravitational Waves
J. Smak
N. Copernicus Astronomical Center, Polish Academy of Sciences, Bartycka 18, 00-716 Warsaw, Poland
Received: December 27, 2023
ABSTRACT
System parameters of AM CVn are re-determined:
M1=0.86±0.18 M☉,
M2=0.103±0.0022 M☉,
A=1.508±0.100×1010 cm, and i=69±3°. The secondary
component of the system is a semi-degenerate helium star loosing mass at
a rate Ṁ=4.93±1.65×10-9 M☉/yr. The accretion disk is
sufficiently hot to avoid thermal instability.
The orbital light curve recovered from observations made in 1962 shows
minimum shifted to phase φ=0.50, corresponding
to O-C=0.0060 d. Together with mimima observed in the years
1992-1999 this implies that the orbital period is increasing at a rate of
dP/dt≈8.5×10-13 - consistent with
predictions involving the emission of gravitational waves.
Key words:
novae, cataclysmic variables - Stars:
individual: AM CVn - Gravitational waves
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