Unveiling the X-ray properties of the eclipsing Cataclysmic Variable UU Aqr: spatially and spectrally-resolved two-component emission

TL;DR

This study uses multi-instrument X-ray observations to spatially and spectrally resolve the emission components in the eclipsing Cataclysmic Variable UU Aqr, revealing distinct origins for soft and hard X-ray emissions.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed spatial and spectral analysis of X-ray emission regions in UU Aqr, identifying the soft component as wind shocks and constraining system parameters.

Findings

Hard X-ray emission originates near the white dwarf in a boundary layer.

Soft X-ray emission is extended and produced by shocks in accretion disk winds.

Eclipse modeling yields estimates for the white dwarf and donor star properties.

Abstract

Non-magnetic Cataclysmic Variables (CVs) show two distinct X-ray components: a hard, optically thin component and a soft, optically thick, blackbody-like component, both produced in the boundary layer between the accretion disk and the White Dwarf (WD). An additional soft component originating from a more extended region has been reported in few CVs. In a short Chandra exposure, we identified a tentative X-ray eclipse in UU Aqr, a non-magnetic CV which shows deep optical eclipses. Using observations with the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and the XMM-Newton, we detect total eclipses in the orbital intensity profiles of this system in the hard X-ray band (3-10 keV with XMM and 3-25 keV with NuSTAR). However, the soft X-ray band (0.3-2.0 keV) shows no evidence of an eclipse. Detailed eclipse modeling, energy-resolved power spectral analysis and broadband spectral modeling indicate that the hard absorbed X-ray emission originates from a compact region near the WD, such as a boundary layer, while the soft, unabsorbed and un-eclipsed X-ray emission originates in an extended region. Neither scattering of hard X-rays nor colliding winds can account for the observed un-eclipsed soft emission. We instead propose that this component is produced by shocks within vertically extended, radiatively driven accretion-disk winds. We also provide new estimates on the emitting regions, mass and radius of the WD and the donor star using eclipse modeling.