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D. Bambeck, E. M. Sion (Villanova Un.)
We have carried out an ultraviolet spectroscopic study of the hot white dwarf in the eclipsing S-Type symbiotic variable RW Hydra (Porb = 370.2 days), using all available IUE archival low resolution and high resolution spectra obtained at inferior conjunction (when the accreting hot white dwarf is in front of the red giant). This system is unique in that it is the only symbiotic variable known to date in which the photospheric continuum from the hot white dwarf can be directly detected. We present the results of a deep search for white dwarf wind features and the results of fitting the observed steeply rising far UV continuum with a grid of NLTE solar composition model atmospheres. Using our derived parameters for the white dwarf, we discuss the evolutionary phase of the accreting white dwarf, whether burning H near the surface in a steady state with accretion, on the decline from a thermonuclear outburst, or lying along a white dwarf cooling track.
This research is supported by NASA ADP grant NAG5-8388 to Villanova University.
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