SWIFT J0503.7-2819: A nearly synchronous intermediate polar below the period gap?

TL;DR

This study characterizes the nearly synchronous intermediate polar SWIFT J0503.7-2819 using multi-wavelength observations, revealing its orbital and spin periods, spectral properties, and accretion flow, suggesting it is below the period gap.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of SWIFT J0503.7-2819 as a nearly synchronous intermediate polar below the period gap, refining its orbital and spin periods.

Findings

Confirmed orbital period of 81.65 minutes.

Identified spin period of approximately 65 minutes.

X-ray spectra explained by a two-temperature plasma model.

Abstract

Based on the X-ray observations from XMM-Newton and Swift, and optical observations from Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and AAVSO, we present temporal and spectral properties of probable intermediate polar SWIFT J0503.7-2819. The X-ray light curve shows two distinctive features, where possibly the second pole seems to be active during the middle of the XMM-Newton observations. Present analysis confirms and also refines the previously reported orbital period of SWIFT J0503.7-2819 as 81.65$\pm$0.04 min. The X-ray and optical variations of this target have been found to occur at the period of $\sim$ 65 min, which we propose as the spin period of the white dwarf (WD). The energy-dependent modulation at this period, which are due to the photoelectric absorption in the accretion flow, also assures this conjecture. Two temperature thermal plasma model well explains the X-ray spectra with temperatures of $\sim$ 150 eV and $\sim$ 18.5 keV, which is absorbed by a dense material with an average equivalent hydrogen column density of 3.8 $\times$ 10$^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$ that partially covers $\sim$ 27% of the X-ray source. An attempt is made to understand the accretion flow in this system using the present data of SWIFT J0503.7-2819. If the proposed spin period is indeed the actual period, then SWIFT J0503.7-2819 could be the first nearly synchronous intermediate polar below the period gap.