Discovery of the 1.80 hr Spin Period of the White Dwarf of the Symbiotic System BF Cyg

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of a 1.80-hour spin period of the white dwarf in the symbiotic system BF Cyg, based on periodic variations observed in its light curve, indicating magnetic accretion processes.

Contribution

It provides the first detection of the white dwarf's spin period in BF Cyg and interprets the observed variability as due to hot spots from magnetic accretion.

Findings

Detected a 1.80-hour periodicity in 2003 data

Observed changes in the periodic signal between 2003 and 2004

No periodic signal detected in 2007 when the star was brighter

Abstract

We report on the discovery of a coherent periodicity in the B light curve of the symbiotic star BF Cyg. The signal was detected in some sections of the light curve of the star recorded in the year 2003 as double hump periodic variations with an amplitude of ~7 mmag. In the year 2004 the signal was also present in only a subsection of the light curve. In that year, the system was about twice as bright and the amplitude of the oscillations was about half of what it was in 2003. In 2004 the cycle structure was of a single hump, the phase of which coincided with the phase of one of the humps in the 2003 cycle. No periodic signal was detected in a third, short series of observations performed in the year 2007, when the star was three magnitudes brighter than in 2003. We interpret the periodicity as the spin period of the white dwarf component of this interacting binary system. We suggest that the signal in 2003 originated in two hot spots on or near the surface of the white dwarf, most likely around the two antipodes of an oblique dipole magnetic field of this star. Magnetic field lines funneled accreted matter from the wind of the cool component to the pole areas, where the falling material created the hot spots. This process is apparently intermittent in its nature. In 2004, the activity near only one pole was enhanced enough to raise the signal above the threshold of our detection ability.