Phase-Resolved Infrared Cyclotron Spectroscopy of Polars: Meshing Data and Theory

Ryan Campbell

In the past two decades cyclotron emission in polars has been extensively studied. Currently, there exist many complex models (See Fischer and Beuermann, 2001) to explain the orbital modulation of cyclotron harmonics observed in many polars. In older "Constant-Lambda Models" 4 global parameters: B, T, viewing angle, and optical depth parameter were used to fit observations with much success, accurately describing the wavelength position of the cyclotron harmonics and the motion of harmonics over the orbital period, among other things. In the current state of the art, however, the models are dependent on parameters for which we have little or no direct observational constraints, such as the thermal profile of each line of sight, geometry of the accretion spot, magnetic field structure, and the mass accretion rate. To determine whether the extra complexity in these new models is necessary, we will model a number of Polars with both Constant-Lambda as well as a more complex code which computes the radiative hydrodynamics over each line of sight in the accretion region, and then does ray tracing to compute the observed spectrum.