J/AJ/154/252 A VLA survey of magnetic CVs. I. The data (Barrett+, 2017)
A Jansky VLA survey of magnetic cataclysmic variable stars.
I. The Data.
Barrett P.E., Dieck C., Beasley A.J., Singh K.P., Mason P.A.
<Astron. J., 154, 252 (2017)>
=2017AJ....154..252B 2017AJ....154..252B (SIMBAD/NED BibCode)
ADC_Keywords: Stars, variable ; Binaries, cataclysmic ; Magnetic fields ;
Novae ; Radio sources ; Proper motions ; Polarization
Keywords: novae, cataclysmic variables - radio continuum: stars -
stars: activity - stars: magnetic field
Abstract:
The Jansky Very Large Array was used to observe 121 magnetic cataclysmic
variables (MCVs). We report radio detections of 18 stars. Thirteen are
new radio sources, increasing the number of MCVs that are radio sources
by more than twofold, from 8 to 21. Most detections are at 8.7 GHz (X-band)
with a lesser number at 5.4 and 21.1 GHz (C- and K-bands). With the
exception of AE Aqr, whose flux density is typically >5 mJy, the flux
densities are in the range of 24-780 µJy. Thirteen of the detections
show highly circularly polarized emission, which is characteristic of
electron-cyclotron maser emission. The data suggest that MCVs could
possibly be divided into two classes of radio emitters: those dominated
by weakly polarized gyrosynchrotron emission and those by highly
polarized electron-cyclotron maser emission.
Description:
We used the Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA) to observe 121 magnetic
cataclysmic variables (MCVs) during two observing semesters, 13B and 15A,
at primarily three frequencies (C-, X-, and K-bands; 4-6, 8-10, and
18-22 GHz, respectively) at full polarization. A fourth frequency, Q-band
(40-44 GHz), was also used for a few observations. Accurate flux densities
were obtained by observing one of four standard flux calibrators (3C48,
3C138, 3C147, and 3C286) during each scheduling block (SB), except for
six SBs during semester 13B that used 3C295 as a flux calibrator and
could not be accurately flux calibrated by the Common Astronomy Software
Applications (CASA) calibration pipeline.
For semester 13B, 40 hr of observing time was requested to observe 60
of the optically (B magnitude) brightest, and likely closest, MCVs from
the Ritter & Kolb Catalog of cataclysmic binaries, low-mass X-ray binaries
and related objects (Seventh edition (2003A&A...404..301R 2003A&A...404..301R); sp., ed. 7.19)
that are north of decl. -40°.
For semester 15A, 69 hr of observing time was requested to observe the
remaining 69 MCVs in the Ritter & Kolb catalog (2003A&A...404..301R 2003A&A...404..301R)
that are north of decl. -40°.
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
table2.dat 77 121 Target list and their properties
table1.dat 119 244 Log of JVLA observations
table3.dat 101 23 Radio fluxes and positions of detected MCVs
table4.dat 44 23 Fractional circular polarization of detected MCVs
table5.dat 37 245 3σ flux density upper limits
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See also:
V/123 : Catalog of Cataclysmic Variables (Downes+ 2001-2006)
V/113 : Cataclysmic Binaries, LMXBs, and related objects (Ritter+, 2003)
B/gcvs : General Catalogue of Variable Stars (Samus+, 2007-2017)
I/322 : UCAC4 Catalogue (Zacharias+, 2012)
J/AJ/153/144 : Spectroscopy of mCVs and other variable objects
(Oliveira+, 2017)
Byte-by-byte Description of file: table2.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 12 A12 --- GCVS General Catalog of Variable Stars name (if known)
14- 17 A4 --- Class Cataclysmic variable (CV) subclass (1)
19- 20 I2 h RAh Hour of Right Ascension (J2000)
22- 23 I2 min RAm Minute of Right Ascension (J2000)
25- 29 F5.2 s RAs Second of Right Ascension (J2000)
31- 31 A1 --- DE- Sign of the Declination (J2000)
32- 33 I2 deg DEd Degree of Declination (J2000)
35- 36 I2 arcmin DEm Arcminute of Declination (J2000)
38- 41 F4.1 arcsec DEs Arcsecond of Declination (J2000)
43- 47 F5.1 mas pmRA [-77/123]? Proper motion in Right Ascension (2)
49- 53 F5.1 mas pmDE [-75.5/51.7]? Proper motion in Declination (2)
55- 56 I2 h RA+PMh Hour of Right Ascension, proper motion corrected
(3)
58- 59 I2 min RA+PMm Minute of Right Ascension, proper motion corrected
(3)
61- 65 F5.2 s RA+PMs Second of Right Ascension, proper motion corrected
(3)
67- 67 A1 --- DE+PM- Sign of the Declination, proper motion corrected
(3)
68- 69 I2 deg DE+PMd Degree of Declination, proper motion corrected (3)
71- 72 I2 arcmin DE+PMm Arcminute of Declination, proper motion corrected
(3)
74- 77 F4.1 arcsec DE+PMs Arcsecond of Declination, proper motion corrected
(3)
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Note (1): The CV subclasses (Ritter & Kolb 2003A&A...404..301R 2003A&A...404..301R) are defined
as follows:
AM = AM Herculis star (or polar), a subclass of MCVs;
DN = Dwarf nova;
IP = Intermediate polar and DQ Herculis star, subclasses of MCVs;
SH = Non-SU UMa star showing permanent or transient superhumps, a subclass of
nova-like (NL) CVs;
SU = SU Ursa Majoris star, a subtype of DN;
SW = SW Sextans star, a subtype of NLs;
VY = VY Sculptoris star, a subclass of NLs;
WZ = WZ Sagittae star, a subclass of SU UMa stars;
? = Uncertain classification.
Note (2): Proper motions are primarily from the US Naval Observatory Combined
Astrometric Catalog (UCAC4, Cat. I/322) supplemented by the Simbad on-line
catalog when necessary.
Note (3): Positions accounting for proper motion are at the mean epoch of the
observations.
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: table1.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 12 A12 --- GCVS General Catalog of Variable Stars name
(if known)
14- 20 A7 --- Obs-ID Unique observing identifier
(semester-scheduling block)
22- 31 A10 "date" Date Date of observation
33- 40 A8 "h:m:s" C-UTC UTC start of C-band (5.4 GHz) observation
42- 44 I3 s C-Exp [75/315]? Duration of C-band observation
46- 49 F4.2 arcsec C-bmaj [0.4/8.79]? Length of C-band beam major axis
51- 54 F4.2 arcsec C-bmin [0.34/2.45]? Length of C-band beam minor axis
56- 60 F5.1 deg C-PA [-89.8/86.6]? Position angle of C-band beam
major axis
62- 69 A8 "h:m:s" X-UTC ? UTC start of X-band (8.7 GHz) observation
71- 73 I3 s X-Exp [75/318]? Duration of X-band observation
75- 78 F4.2 arcsec X-bmaj [0.25/5.36]? Length of X-band beam major axis
80- 83 F4.2 arcsec X-bmin [0.21/1.5]? Length of X-band beam minor axis
85- 89 F5.1 deg X-PA [-86.8/89.3]? Position angle of X-band beam
major axis
91- 98 A8 "h:m:s" K-UTC UTC start of K-band (21.1 GHz) observation
100-102 I3 s K-Exp [75/318]? Duration of K-band observation
104-107 F4.2 arcsec K-bmaj [0.11/2.12]? Length of K-band beam major axis
109-112 F4.2 arcsec K-bmin [0.09/0.72]? Length of K-band beam minor axis
114-119 F6.1 deg K-PA [-179.3/88.9]? Position angle of K-band beam
major axis
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: table3.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 10 A10 --- GCVS General Catalog of Variable Stars name (if
known)
11- 17 A7 --- Obs-ID Unique observing identifier
(semester-scheduling block)
19- 20 I2 h RAh Hour of Right Ascension (J2000) (1)
22- 23 I2 min RAm Minute of Right Ascension (J2000) (1)
25- 30 F6.3 s RAs Second of Right Ascension (J2000) (1)
32- 32 A1 --- DE- Sign of the Declination (J2000)(1)
33- 34 I2 deg DEd Degree of Declination (J2000) (1)
36- 37 I2 arcmin DEm Arcminute of Declination (J2000) (1)
39- 43 F5.2 arcsec DEs Arcsecond of Declination (J2000) (1)
45- 47 F3.1 arcsec Offset [0/5.3] Distance between observed and
cataloged positions (2)
49- 52 F4.2 arcsec bmaj [0.32/6.25] Beamwidth, major axis
54- 57 F4.2 arcsec bmin [0.23/2.22] Beamwidth, minor axis
59- 63 F5.1 deg PA [-85.2/73.2] Beamwidth, position angle
65- 68 I4 uJy C-flux [24/5027]? C-band (5.4 GHz) flux density
70- 72 I3 uJy e_C-flux [3/101]? Uncertainty in C-flux
74- 77 I4 uJy X-flux [24/5458]? X-band (8.7 GHz) flux density
79- 80 I2 uJy e_X-flux [4/81]? Uncertainty in X-flux
82- 85 I4 uJy K-flux [90/7980]? K-band (21.1 GHz) flux density
87- 89 I3 uJy e_K-flux [31/448]? Uncertainty in K-flux
91- 91 A1 --- l_S/N [>] Limit flag on S/N
92- 95 F4.1 --- S/N [5.1/50]? Signal-to-noise ratio
97-101 A5 --- Com Comment about the detection (3)
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Note (1): Observed source position. For stars with detections at multiple
frequencies, the most accurate position is given, which equates to the
measured position of the highest frequency observation.
Note (2): Offset is the distance between the observed and cataloged source
positions and its standard deviation is the approximate size of the longest
axis of the synthesize beam at half-width-half-maximum.
Note (3): Comment as follows:
no-PM = The source has no known proper motion. Therefore, the distance between
the observed and cataloged positions may be large;
3C295 = The flux calibrator is 3C295 and fluxes may not be accurate.
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: table4.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 10 A10 --- GCVS General Catalog of Variable Stars name (if
known)
11- 17 A7 --- Obs-ID Unique observing identifier
(semester-scheduling block)
19- 21 I3 % C-CirPol [-95/69]? The C-band (5.4 GHz) fractional
circular polarization (1)
23- 24 I2 % e_C-CirPol [1/29]? Standard deviation of C-CirPol
26- 29 I4 % X-CirPol [-95/100]? The X-band (8.7 GHz) fractional
circular polarization (1)
31- 32 I2 % e_X-CirPol [1/35]? Standard deviation of X-CirPol
34- 37 I4 % K-CirPol [-25/100]? The K-band (21.1 GHz) fractional
circular polarization (1)
39- 40 I2 % e_K-CirPol [1/34]? Standard deviation of K-CirPol
42- 44 A3 --- Comm Comment about the detection (2)
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Note (1): A negative value denotes left circular polarization.
Note (2): Comment as follows:
LCP = The source is only detected in the left-circularly polarized channel;
RCP = The source is only detected in the right-circularly polarized channel.
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: table5.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 12 A12 --- GCVS General Catalog of Variable Stars name (if
known)
14 A1 --- n_GCVS [*] Note on GCVS (1)
16- 22 A7 --- Obs-ID Unique observing identifier
(semester-scheduling block)
24- 27 I4 uJy ULC-flux [15/8820]? 3σ C-band (5.4 GHz) flux
density upper limit
29- 32 I4 uJy ULX-flux [18/1296]? 3σ X-band (8.7 GHz) flux
density upper limit
34- 37 I4 uJy ULK-flux [39/1830]? 3σ K-band (21.1 GHz) flux
density upper limit
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Note (1): Note as follows:
* = MCVs that are listed as detections in Table 3.
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History:
From electronic version of the journal
(End) Prepared by [AAS], Tiphaine Pouvreau [CDS] 27-Aug-2018