IX Draconis - a curious ER UMa-type dwarf nova

TL;DR

This study presents extensive observations of IX Draconis, revealing its supercycle lengthening, superhump behavior, and the need for further spectroscopic data to clarify its orbital period, contributing to understanding ER UMa-type dwarf novae.

Contribution

It provides detailed photometric analysis of IX Draconis, updates on ER UMa stars, and highlights the variability within this class of dwarf novae.

Findings

Supercycle length of 58.5 days with a rate of P_dot = 1.8e-3

Detection of double-peaked superhumps with a stable period of 0.066982 days

Identification of two possible orbital periods, emphasizing the need for spectroscopic confirmation.

Abstract

We report results of an extensive world-wide observing campaign devoted to a very active dwarf nova star - IX Draconis. We investigated photometric behaviour of the system to derive its basic outburst properties and understand peculiarities of IX Dra as well as other active cataclysmic variables, in particular dwarf novae of the ER Uma-type. In order to measure fundamental parameters of the system, we carried out analyses of the light curve, O-C diagram, and power spectra. During over two months of observations we detected two superoutbursts and several normal outbursts. The V magnitude of the star varied in the range 14.6 - 18.2 mag. Superoutbursts occur regularly with the supercycle length of 58.5+/-0.5 d. When analysing data over the past 20 years, we found that the supercycle length is increasing at a rate of P_dot = 1.8 * 10^{-3}. Normal outbursts appear to be irregular, with typical occurrence times in the range 3.1 - 4.1 d. We detected a double-peaked structure of superhumps during superoutburst, with the secondary maximum becoming dominant near the end of the superoutburst. The mean superhump period observed during superoutbursts equals 0.066982(36) d, which is constant over the last two decades of observations. Based on the power spectrum analysis, the evaluation of the orbital period was problematic. We found two possible values: the first one, 0.06641(3) d, which is in agreement with previous studies and our O-C analysis (0.06646(2) d), and the second one, 0.06482(3) d, which is less likely. The evolutionary status of the object depends dramatically on the choice between these two values. A spectroscopic determination of the orbital period is needed. We updated available information on ER UMa-type stars and present a new set of their basic statistics. Thereby, we provide evidence that this class of stars is not uniform.