A persistent bow shock in a diskless magnetised accreting white dwarf
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arXiv
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866911587474866176 |
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| author | Ilkiewicz, Krystian Scaringi, Simone de Martino, Domitilla Knigge, Christian Motta, Sara E. Rea, Nanda Buckley, David Segura, Noel Castro Groot, Paul J. McLeod, Anna F. Parker, Luke T. Veresvarska, Martina |
| author_facet | Ilkiewicz, Krystian Scaringi, Simone de Martino, Domitilla Knigge, Christian Motta, Sara E. Rea, Nanda Buckley, David Segura, Noel Castro Groot, Paul J. McLeod, Anna F. Parker, Luke T. Veresvarska, Martina |
| contents | 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. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_07922 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | A persistent bow shock in a diskless magnetised accreting white dwarf Ilkiewicz, Krystian Scaringi, Simone de Martino, Domitilla Knigge, Christian Motta, Sara E. Rea, Nanda Buckley, David Segura, Noel Castro Groot, Paul J. McLeod, Anna F. Parker, Luke T. Veresvarska, Martina Solar and Stellar Astrophysics High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 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. |
| title | A persistent bow shock in a diskless magnetised accreting white dwarf |
| topic | Solar and Stellar Astrophysics High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.07922 |