Identification of 1RXS J165424.6-433758 as a Polar Cataclysmic Variable
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O’Connor, B., J. Brink, D. A. H. Buckley, et al. “Identification of 1RXS J165424.6-433758 as a Polar Cataclysmic Variable.” The Astrophysical Journal 957, no. 2 (2023): 89. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acf831.
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This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
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Abstract
We present the results of our X-ray, ultraviolet, and optical follow-up campaigns of 1RXS J165424.6-433758, an X-ray source detected with the Swift Deep Galactic Plane Survey. The source X-ray spectrum (Swift and NuSTAR) is described by thermal bremsstrahlung radiation with a temperature of kT = 10.1 ± 1.2 keV, yielding an X-ray (0.3–10 keV8) luminosity L X = (6.5 ± 0.8) × 1031 erg s?1 at a Gaia distance of 460 pc. Spectroscopy with the Southern African Large Telescope revealed a flat continuum dominated by emission features, demonstrating an inverse Balmer decrement, the ?4640 Bowen blend, almost a dozen He i lines, and He ii ?4541, ?4686, and ?5411. Our high-speed photometry demonstrates a preponderance of flickering and flaring episodes, and revealed the orbital period of the system, P orb = 2.87 hr, which fell well within the cataclysmic variable (CV) period gap between 2 and 3 hr. These features classify 1RXS J165424.6-433758 as a nearby polar magnetic CV.