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Thermal cyclotron radiation by isolated magnetic white dwarfs and constraints on the parameters of their coronas

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Abstract

An efficient method for the detection and estimation of the parameters of the coronas of isolated white dwarfs possessing magnetic fields of about 107 G is tested. This method is based on the detection of thermal radiation of the coronal plasma at harmonics of the electron gyrofrequency, which is manifest as a polarized infrared excess. The Stokes parameters for the thermal cyclotron radiation from the hot corona of a white dwarf with a dipolar magnetic field are calculated. A new upper limit for the electron density, 1010 cm−3, in a corona with a temperature of ≳106 K is found for the white dwarf G99-47 (WD 0553+053). This limit is a factor of 40 lower than the value derived earlier from ROSAT X-ray observations. Recommendations for subsequent infrared observations of isolated magnetic white dwarfs aimed at detecting their coronas or deriving better constraints on their parameters are presented.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Applied Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Ul’yanova 46, Nizhni Novgorod, 603600, Russia

    V. V. Zheleznyakov, S. A. Koryagin & A. V. Serber

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  1. V. V. Zheleznyakov
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  2. S. A. Koryagin
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  3. A. V. Serber
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__________

Translated from Astronomicheski\(\overset{\lower0.5em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\smile}$}}{l}\) Zhurnal, Vol. 81, No. 2, 2004, pp. 143–158.

Original Russian Text Copyright © 2004 by Zheleznyakov, Koryagin, Serber.

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Zheleznyakov, V.V., Koryagin, S.A. & Serber, A.V. Thermal cyclotron radiation by isolated magnetic white dwarfs and constraints on the parameters of their coronas. Astron. Rep. 48, 121–135 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1134/1.1648076

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/1.1648076

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