A search for pulsed high-energy non-thermal emission from the nova-like variable system AE Aquarii

[摘要] English: AE Aquarii is an peculiar nova like variable system with emission observable inalmost all wavelength regimes. The emission consists of both thermal and nonthermalcomponents. The parameters and models for the non-thermal Synchrotronemission in the radio regime, as well as the optical and UV emission, have beenextensively studied and presented since this enigmatic source was first studied inthe 1930s. However, the emission processes and parameters towards the higherenergies are still not clearly verified. The possibility of non-thermal pulsed emissionin the VHE energies was mentioned in previous studies, as well as possiblecorrelations between this pulsed emission and periods of enhanced optical activity.We searched for non-thermal high energy emission from AE Aquarii using archivaldata from Suzaku, Fermi and AGILE along with contemporaneous optical photometricdata from Boyden Observatory and SAAO. Analysis of the parameters ofoptical ares resulted in signatures that was used to identify possible correlatingfeatures in the Fermi-LAT data. In addition, we found that given the presence ofa thermal component in conjunction with a power-law towards higher energies inthe Suzaku X-ray data, as well as a possible low-level pulse signal in the Fermi-LAT data at the first harmonic of the white dwarf spin period, the possibilityof non-thermal high energy emission from AE Aquarii cannot be excluded. Thepossible low-level signal in the Fermi-LAT data was as a result of a novel peakdistribution analysis technique. Finally, an updated spectral energy distributionfor AE Aquarii was completed to serve as a reference for future studies.

[发布机构] University of the Free State