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Stella Kafka |
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"Activity on the Secondary
Stars of Cataclysmic Variables: Nature or Nurture?" |
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Chromospheric Activity on the mass-losing secondary star in cataclysmic variables (CVs) is commonly invoked to explain sustained mass transfer caused by system angular momentum loss via a magnetized stellar wind. Such activity may also be responsible for the CV period gap, and for the widely differing mass transfer rates among CVs at the same orbital period. We present a spectroscopic monitoring campaign of magnetic CVs at times of reduced accretion, where unusual components in the H-alpha line reveal magnetically confined gas motions in large, long-lived loop prominence-like structures on the donor star. We discuss possible mechanisms leading to those structures which may reveal a new paradigm on magnetic activity in magnetic CVs. |