dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaA persistent bow shock in a diskless magnetised accreting white dwarf
| Authors | Krystian Ikiewicz, Simone Scaringi, Domitilla de Martino, Christian Knigge, Sara E. Motta, Nanda Rea, David Buckley, Noel Castro Segura, Paul J. Groot, Anna F. McLeod, Luke T. Parker, Martina Veresvarska |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | 2601.07922vv1 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.07922 |
| DOI | 10.1038/s41550-025-02748-8 |
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Abstract
Stellar bow shocks are formed when an outflow interacts with the interstellar medium. In white dwarfs accreting from a binary companion, outflows are associated with either strong winds from the donor star, the accretion disk, or a thermonuclear runaway explosion on the white dwarf surface. To date, only six accreting white dwarfs are known to harbour disk-wind driven bow shocks that are not associated to thermonuclear explosions. Here, we report the discovery of a bow shock associated with a high-proper-motion disk-less accreting white dwarf, 1RXS J052832.5+283824. We show that the white dwarf has a strong magnetic field in the range B~42-45 MG, making RXJ0528+2838 the a bonafide known polar-type cataclysmic variable harbouring a bow shock. The resolved bow shock is shown to be inconsistent with a past thermonuclear explosion, or being inflated by a donor wind, ruling out all accepted scenarios for inflating a bow shock around this system. Modelling of the energetics reveals that the observed bow shock requires a persistent power source with a luminosity significantly exceeding the system accretion energy output. This implies the presence of a powerful, previously unrecognized energy loss mechanism - potentially tied to magnetic activity - that may operate over sufficiently long timescales to influence the course of binary evolution.
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"abstract": "Stellar bow shocks are formed when an outflow interacts with the interstellar medium. In white dwarfs accreting from a binary companion, outflows are associated with either strong winds from the donor star, the accretion disk, or a thermonuclear runaway explosion on the white dwarf surface. To date, only six accreting white dwarfs are known to harbour disk-wind driven bow shocks that are not associated to thermonuclear explosions. Here, we report the discovery of a bow shock associated with a high-proper-motion disk-less accreting white dwarf, 1RXS J052832.5+283824. We show that the white dwarf has a strong magnetic field in the range B~42-45 MG, making RXJ0528+2838 the a bonafide known polar-type cataclysmic variable harbouring a bow shock. The resolved bow shock is shown to be inconsistent with a past thermonuclear explosion, or being inflated by a donor wind, ruling out all accepted scenarios for inflating a bow shock around this system. Modelling of the energetics reveals that the observed bow shock requires a persistent power source with a luminosity significantly exceeding the system accretion energy output. This implies the presence of a powerful, previously unrecognized energy loss mechanism - potentially tied to magnetic activity - that may operate over sufficiently long timescales to influence the course of binary evolution.",
"arxiv_id": "2601.07922",
"authors": [
"Krystian Ikiewicz",
"Simone Scaringi",
"Domitilla de Martino",
"Christian Knigge",
"Sara E. Motta",
"Nanda Rea",
"David Buckley",
"Noel Castro Segura",
"Paul J. Groot",
"Anna F. McLeod",
"Luke T. Parker",
"Martina Veresvarska"
],
"categories": [
"astro-ph.SR",
"astro-ph.HE"
],
"doi": "10.1038/s41550-025-02748-8",
"license": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"title": "A persistent bow shock in a diskless magnetised accreting white dwarf",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.07922",
"version": "v1"
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