On The Accretion Rates of SW Sextantis Nova-Like Variables

TL;DR

This study compares accretion rates of SW Sextantis nova-like variables with non-SW Sextantis systems using archival spectra and two independent modeling methods, finding no significant difference in accretion rates.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of accretion rates in SW Sextantis and non-SW Sextantis systems using uniform distance measurements and two modeling approaches.

Findings

No significant difference in accretion rates between SW Sextantis and non-SW Sextantis systems.

SW Sex stars do not have higher accretion rates than other nova-like CVs within the same orbital period range.

Accretion rates are consistent across different modeling methods for the studied systems.

Abstract

We present accretion rates for selected samples of nova-like variables having IUE archival spectra and distances uniformly determined using an infrared method by Knigge (2006). A comparison with accretion rates derived independently with a multi-parametric optimization modeling approach by Puebla et al.(2007) is carried out. The accretion rates of SW Sextantis nova-like systems are compared with the accretion rates of non-SW Sextantis systems in the Puebla et al. sample and in our sample, which was selected in the orbital period range of three to four and a half hours, with all systems having distances using the method of Knigge (2006). Based upon the two independent modeling approaches, we find no significant difference between the accretion rates of SW Sextantis systems and non-SW Sextantis nova-like systems insofar as optically thick disk models are appropriate. We find little evidence to suggest that the SW Sex stars have higher accretion rates than other nova-like CVs above the period gap within the same range of orbital periods.