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Polarimetric Study of the Massive Interacting Binary W Serpentis: Discovery of High-Latitude Scattering Spot/Jet
We present multicolor (UBVRI) polarimetry and additional B-band CCDpolarimetry of the peculiar, strongly interacting binary W Ser, withgood coverage over the 14.16 day orbital period in the three observingseasons 2001-2003. An interesting finding is that the first harmonicdominates in polarization variations over the binary cycle in eachseason, indicating that the main contribution to the polarized flux iscoming from a localized region away from the orbital plane. We apply ournew model codes for electron scattering in circumstellar matter tointerpret the data and find that a ``spot or jet'' like region atlatitude φ~65deg has clearly the best signal-to-noiseratio (>30) among the detected scattering components. Significantshell and stream components are also found, but no disk is seen in thepolarized light. The upper limits for the total number of free electronsin an optically thin scattering disk are an order of magnitude lowerthan in the spherical shell around the primary star. A possible reasonis that the accretion disk is optically thick and has a clearly definedand visible pseudophotosphere. Multiple scattering and absorptioneffects in an optically thick regime reduce the polarization of theobserved light to small levels. Scattering from optically thin parts ofthe circumstellar matter, the shell, the stream, and the high-latitudespot/jet, possibly associated with optically thin polar regions of theaccretion disk, dominates in the observed polarization of W Ser.
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Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Ophiucus |
| Right ascension: | 17h07m51.10s |
| Declination: | +05°03'12.2" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 9.092 |
| Proper motion RA: | 8.7 |
| Proper motion Dec: | -2 |
| B-T magnitude: | 9.325 |
| V-T magnitude: | 9.112 |
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