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# XMM-Newton observations of the neutron star X-ray transient KS 1731–260 in quiescence

## 1 Introduction

X-ray transients are characterized by long episodes (years to decades) of very low X-ray luminosities ($`10^{3034}`$ erg s-1) with occasional short (weeks to months) outbursts during which they can be detected at luminosities of $`10^{3639}`$ erg s-1 (e.g., Chen, Shrader, & Livio 1997). The huge increase in luminosity is thought to be due to a correspondingly large increase in the mass accretion rate onto the compact object in those systems, although the exact mechanisms behind the outbursts are not fully understood (Lasota 2001). Similarly, the exact origin of the quiescent X-ray emission remains elusive. For those systems harboring a neutron star, it has been argued (e.g., Campana et al. 1998b; Brown, Bildsten, & Rutledge 1998) that the observed emission below a few keV originates from the neutron star surface: the neutron star core is heated by the nuclear reactions occurring deep in the crust when the star is accreting and this heat is released as thermal emission during quiescence. The emission above a few keV (as observed in several systems; e.g., Asai et al. 1996, 1998; Campana et al. 1998a, 2000) cannot be explained by this model. Models proposed for this component include residual accretion either onto the neutron star surface or down to its magnetospheric radius, or the radio pulsar mechanism (e.g., Campana et al. 1998b; Campana & Stella 2000).

A sub-class of transients are characterized by very long accretion episodes of years to decades instead of weeks to months. Recently, one of those systems (KS 1731–260) suddenly turned off after having actively accreted for over 12.5 years. A Chandra observation taken a few months after this transition showed the source at a 0.5–10 keV luminosity of $`10^{33}`$ erg s-1 (Wijnands et al. 2001), assuming a distance of 7 kpc (Muno et al. 2000). If the cooling neutron star model is responsible for the quiescent emission in this system, then it should be in quiescence between outbursts for $`>`$1000 years, assuming all outbursts are similar to the one observed and standard cooling processes (e.g., modified Urca; Colpi et al. 2001; Ushomirsky & Rutledge 2001) occur in the neutron star core. However, Rutledge et al. (2002) argued that for systems like KS 1731–260, the long accreting episodes will heat the crust to high temperatures and it might take years to decades for the crust to come into thermal equilibrium with the core. Until this happens, the quiescent emission will be dominated by the thermal state of the crust and not that of the core. Rutledge et al. (2002) calculated crust cooling tracks for this source assuming different scenarios of the microphysics involved (the heat conductivity of the crust; standard vs. “enhanced” core cooling).

Burderi et al. (2002) reported on a BeppoSAX observation of KS 1731–260 performed a few weeks before the Chandra observation. They detected KS 1731–260 at a luminosity of at most $`10^{33}`$ erg s-1. In addition to the cooling neutron star model, they discussed several alternative explanations for the observed quiescent emission (such as residual accretion or the onset of the radio pulsar mechanism). By considering those alternative models, they were able to set an upper limit of $`14\times 10^9`$ Gauss on the magnetic field strength of the neutron star in KS 1731–260. Here we report on XMM-Newton observations of KS 1731–260 taken approximately half a year after the Chandra and BeppoSAX observations. With these XMM-Newton observations we are able to study the time evolution of the quiescent emission.

## 2 Observation, analysis, and results

We have analyzed XMM-Newton observations of KS 1731–260 performed on 13 September 2001 01:54–09:01 UTC and 13–14 September 2001 22:43–05:58 UTC. All instruments were active; here we only discuss the data as obtained with the three European Photon Imaging Camera (EPIC) instruments (due to the very low flux of the source, it was not detected in the RGS instrument). The two EPIC MOS cameras and the EPIC pn camera operated in full window mode with the thin optical blocking filter. To analyze the data, we used the Science Analysis System (SAS111See http://xmm.vilspa.esa.es/user/sas\_top.html; version 5.2). We used the calibrated pipeline product data to extract images, light curves, and spectra using the tools available in SAS. Several background flares occurred during our observations, which were filtered out before analyzing the data to minimize the effects of those strong background flares on the quality of the X-ray spectra; we did not use those data during which the count rate exceeded 7 counts s-1 for the MOS cameras (using time bins of 10 seconds) and 20 counts s-1 for the pn camera (also using 10 seconds time bins). These criteria resulted in a total good time of $``$23 ksec for the pn camera and $``$33 ksec for both MOS cameras. No difference in the count rates between the two XMM-Newton observations was observed, and, therefore, we combined the data of both observations to increase our sensitivity.

We combined the data of the three EPIC cameras to create one image of the field of KS 1731–260, representing the most sensitive image of this region so far obtained. In Figure 3, we show both the Chandra/ACIS-S (left) and the XMM-Newton/EPIC (right) images of KS 1731–260. The Chandra image was rebinned by a linear factor of 8 to obtain roughly the same pixel size as that of the XMM-Newton image (3.95′′ for the Chandra image vs. 4.35′′ for the XMM-Newton image) and both images have been smoothed using a Gaussian function with a width equal to the pixel size of the image. We clearly detected KS 1731–260 together with the nearby star 2MASSI J173412.7–260548 (Fig. 3 right), both of which were also detected during the Chandra observation (Fig. 3 left; Wijnands et al. 2001). To allow for a visual comparison, we used a scaling such that the appearance of this 2MASS star is very similar in both images (below we will show that the flux of this star is consistent with being constant between the two observations). A comparison of the images indicates that KS 1731–260 has decreased in luminosity between the Chandra and XMM-Newton observations. In principle, systematic effects due to the difference in the energy response of the instruments and the different X-ray spectra of the two detected sources might be responsible for this dimming of KS 1731–260 relative to the 2MASS star. However, below we show that the decrease in luminosity as observed for KS 1731–260 is real.

### 2.1 The source spectra

The spectrum of KS 1731–260 in each EPIC camera was extracted using a circle of 15′′ in radius on the source position. The background spectra were extracted from a circle with a radius of 50′′ close to KS 1731–260 (different background regions resulted in very similar results) which did not contain any other point source (the standard practice of using an annulus around the source position as background could not be used because of the presence of the 2MASS source $`30^{\prime \prime }`$ away from KS 1731–260). The extracted spectra were rebinned using the FTOOLS routine GRPPHA into bins with a minimum of 10 counts per bin. We used the ready-made response matrices provided by the calibration team (available at http://xmm.vilspa.esa.es/ccf/epic/). We fitted the three spectra simultaneously using XSPEC version 11.1 (Arnaud 1996). We used several models to fit the data, and the neutral hydrogen column density $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ was either fixed to $`1.1\times 10^{22}`$ cm-2 (see, e.g., Barret et al. 1998 or Narita et al. 2001) or left as a free parameter. All single-component models resulted in acceptable fits. Currently, the two models most often used to fit the quiescent spectra of neutron star systems are the blackbody and the neutron star atmosphere models. Therefore, we concentrated on those models, with the neutron star atmosphere model being that described by Zavlin, Pavlov, & Shibanov 1996 (the non-magnetic case). In certain systems, a power-law tail above a few keV was found, and although such power-law component was not required by the data, we fitted the spectra with the above two models including a power-law component with a photon index of 1 or 2 to obtain an upper limit on this component.

The spectral results are listed in Tab. 1 and the pn spectrum is shown in Fig. 3. We have also plotted the spectrum obtained with Chandra (Wijnands et al. 2001), which again suggests that the source was fainter during our XMM-Newton observation than during the Chandra observation. When left free, $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ was consistent with the value previously obtained with other instruments, although for the atmosphere model a slightly higher value was preferred, resulting in a slightly higher unabsorbed flux compared to the fixed $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ case. When $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ was fixed, the atmosphere model measured a similar flux as the blackbody model, $`5\times 10^{14}`$ erg cm-2 s-1 (unabsorbed and for 0.5–10 keV). To obtain the errors on the fluxes, we have calculated the $`1\sigma `$ error contours for the temperature and normalization, fixing $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ at the value in Table 1 in each case, and obtained the fluxes associated with the circumference of the error ellipse. The temperature $`kT`$ and $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ are strongly correlated in the fits, and when both are free no useful constraints could be obtained on the unabsorbed flux. The best-fit temperature was in all cases $``$0.3 keV for the blackbody fits and $``$0.1 keV for the atmosphere model. In the latter model, the neutron star radius could not be constrained and was fixed to the best fit radius of 15 km (at infinity; the other parameters are not very sensitive to its actual value). When including a power-law component in the fit, it could not be detected significantly and its 0.5–10 keV flux could be constrained to be less than 25% of that obtained from the blackbody or atmosphere component.

The images and spectra of KS 1731–260 both indicate that the flux decreased between the two observation epochs. To investigate whether the apparent flux decrease is statistically significant, we have fitted the Chandra and XMM-Newton data simultaneously. When all spectral parameters were tied between the two data sets, a blackbody fit is statistically unacceptable, with $`\chi ^2`$ = 83 for 38 degrees of freedom, corresponding to a probability of only $`3\times 10^5`$ that the source did not change. We obtained a similar result when we used other models (e.g., atmosphere models) instead of a blackbody. When we did not tie the spectral parameters (except $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ which was assumed to be constant), we obtained acceptable fits. The fit results using a blackbody or an atmosphere model are listed in Table 1. In all cases, the flux difference between the Chandra and XMM-Newton data is significant at a 3 to 4 $`\sigma `$ level.

Although this shows that the flux of KS 1731–260 decreased, this could conceivably be due to a calibration error in one or both of the instruments. Although this is unlikely (e.g., Ferrando et al. 2002; Weisskopf et al. 2002), we can perform a check on this in the same data set by analyzing the data of both instruments of the 2MASS star assuming that the star has a constant spectrum. To this end, we have extracted the spectra of this source from the Chandra and XMM-Newton data. We fitted all obtained spectra of the 2MASS star simultaneously keeping all spectral parameters tied between both instruments (note that due to low statistics the Chandra data alone did not allow to constrain the source spectrum). Either a blackbody or a power-law spectrum fit the data well, yielding a probability of only 0.12 (blackbody model) or 0.09 (power-law model) that the flux of the 2MASS star changed by the same factor (a factor of 3.5) as we observed for KS 1731–260. Furthermore, a recent cross calibration study between XMM-Newton and Chandra (Snowden 2002) indicates that, for sources with different intrinsic spectra, the measured fluxes of both instruments agree to within 10%. Both these results reinforce the idea that, the flux decrease we observed in KS 1731–260 is real, and not due to calibration problems in any of the two instruments.

In the cooling neutron star model, this flux decrease is due to a temperature decrease. To investigate this, we fitted the two data sets simultaneously with a blackbody model, letting $`kT`$ float between the two observations, but keeping the same $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ and emitting radius. This resulted in a $`kT`$ of $`0.33_{0.05}^{+0.06}`$ and 0.27$`\pm `$0.04 keV for Chandra and XMM-Newton, respectively. The error ellipse of the two temperature parameters (Fig. 3) exclude the line $`kT_{\mathrm{Chandra}}=kT_{\mathrm{XMM}\mathrm{Newton}}`$, which shows that in the constant-radius blackbody model a systematically lower $`kT`$ is preferred to fit the XMM-Newton spectrum than the Chandra one, suggesting that the temperature decreased between the two epochs. The resulting fluxes are 11$`\pm `$2 (Chandra) and 4.8$`\pm `$0.8 $`\times 10^{14}`$ erg cm-2 s-1(XMM-Newton). This results in a flux decrease between the two data sets of 6$`\pm `$2 $`\times 10^{14}`$ erg cm-2 s-1, which is significant at the 3$`\sigma `$ level.

## 3 Discussion

We have reported on XMM-Newton observations performed on 2001 September 13–14 of the neutron star X-ray transient KS 1731–260 when it was in quiescence. We detected the source at an unabsorbed 0.5–10 keV flux of $`48\times 10^{14}`$ erg cm-2 s-1, which for a distance of 7 kpc implies a 0.5–10 keV luminosity of $`25\times 10^{32}`$ erg s-1, depending on the model used to fit the data. This luminosity is lower than what has been reported for the source during the Chandra observation performed about half a year earlier (Wijnands et al. 2001; Rutledge et al. 2002). KS 1731–260 is not the only system for which X-ray variability in quiescence has been observed. Several other neutron star systems have also been found to be variable in quiescence by factors of 3 to 5 on time scales of days to years (see Ushomirsky & Rutledge 2001 for a summary of the observed variability).

It is expected that at some level the neutron star in KS 1731–260 should emit X-rays due to the thermal cooling of the neutron star core. Our low X-ray flux provides an upper limit to the thermal flux from the core. If the crust of the neutron star has a higher temperature than the core (Rutledge et al. 2002 argued that the crust should be considerably hotter than the core due to the prolonged accretion episode of KS 1731–260) and/or if additional X-ray production mechanisms are at work in the system (e.g., residual accretion, radio pulsar mechanism), then the thermal flux related to the core will be even lower. Based on the Brown et al. (1998) model and assuming standard core cooling, Wijnands et al. (2001) already calculated that KS 1731–260 had to be in quiescence for over a 1000 years between outbursts in order to emit at the low flux level measured with Chandra (see also Rutledge et al. 2002 or Burderi et al. 2002). However, for the factor of 2 to 4 lower quiescent luminosity we observed with XMM-Newton, this inferred cooling time increases by approximately the same factor. This would make the quiescent intervals of KS 1731–260 extremely long. However, if we assume that enhanced cooling takes place in the neutron star core (e.g., due to enhanced neutrino production), this inferred quiescent interval would decrease considerably, making it more similar to that of the ordinary transients.

In the cooling neutron star model, the variability we observe would have to be explained by assuming that the neutron star surface has cooled between the Chandra and XMM-Newton observations. In the previous section we have presented evidence that the measured temperature decreased, supporting this interpretation. For KS 1731–260, Rutledge et al. (2002) calculated four crust cooling curves assuming different values of the crustal conductivity and the different cooling processes in the core of the neutron star (standard vs. enhanced cooling). A comparison of the observed decrease in luminosity with those cooling curves (see Figure 3 in Rutledge et al. 2002), suggests that our data are only consistent with a highly conductive crust, and likely also enhanced core cooling occurs. For a low heat conductivity in the crust, the X-ray luminosity of the system should remain constant or even increase slightly, in contrast to what we observed. For a highly conductive crust but only standard core cooling a decrease in luminosity is also predicted, but by an amount that is less than we have observed. However our uncertainties in the actual luminosity decrease are considerable and our data might still be consistent with this possibility. As explained above, the low measured flux of the system by itself already suggests that enhanced core cooling occurs.

In order to calculate the cooling curves, Rutledge et al. (2002) assumed quiescent episodes for KS 1731–260 of 1500 years, which was calculated assuming standard core cooling. However, if enhanced core cooling occurs, the neutron star core can cool more rapidly than assumed and the system could have quiescent episodes of only years to decades. This has to be taken into account in the modeling of the cooling curves. Although the exact implications are unclear, our conclusion that the crust has to be highly conductive to explain the rapid cooling of the crust is unlikely to change. Therefore, within the cooling neutron star model, our new results indicate that the neutron star in KS 1731–260 has a highly conductive crust and enhanced cooling is likely to occur in its core. Colpi et al. (2001) suggested that when the mass of the neutron star exceeds $`1.6`$ M, such enhanced core cooling might occur. A massive neutron star in KS 1731–260 is not unexpected because a significant amount of matter must have been accreted in order for the neutron star to be spinning rapidly. A fast spinning neutron star (with a spin frequency of $``$524 Hz) in KS 1731–260 has been inferred from the burst oscillations detected in this system (Smith, Morgan, & Bradt 1997).

Alternative models explaining the quiescent emission in neutron star X-ray transients have to be considered as well. In models assuming that the emission is due to residual accretion onto the neutron star surface, either directly or via leakage through the magnetospheric barrier, or down to the magnetospheric radius, the detected luminosity decrease can be explained by assuming that the accretion rate has decreased considerably. These alternative models were discussed in detail by Burderi et al. (2002) and because the lower luminosity of KS 1731–260 does not strongly affect their conclusions (an upper limit on the magnetic field strength of the neutron star can be obtained that is a factor $``$2 lower), we will not discuss those models here in detail. Note, that if the luminosity is indeed due to residual accretion, the decrease in accretion rate inferred from our luminosity decrease might cause a change in the X-ray production mechanism due to the fact that the magnetospheric radius might move outside the co-rotation radius or outside the light cylinder (see also Burderi et al. 2002).

With further monitoring observations of KS 1731–260 in quiescence, the quiescent properties of this source and their time evolution will be better constrained. More detailed observations of other quiescent neutron star systems will help to understand how similar they are to KS 1731–260. So far, at least two other systems have been identified with similar properties: X 1732–304 (Wijnands, Heinke, & Grindlay 2002) and 4U 2129+47 (Wijnands 2002; Nowak, Heinz, & Begelman 2002). Those systems also have very long outburst durations, and from their quiescent properties it has been inferred that they should be in quiescence for hundreds of years if only standard neutron star core cooling occurs. This spurred Wijnands et al. (2002) to suggest that in the standard cooling scenario a correlation between the duration of the outburst episodes and that of the quiescent intervals might be required. However, such a correlation is difficult to understand in accretion disk instability models (Lasota 2001). This could indicate that enhanced cooling takes place in the neutron star cores of those systems (Wijnands et al. 2002). Our results indicating that enhanced cooling may occur in the neutron star core of KS 1731–260 lends further support to this idea.

We thank XMM-Newton project scientist Fred Jansen for scheduling the observations used in this Letter. RW was supported by NASA through Chandra Postdoctoral Fellowship grant number PF9-10010 awarded by CXC, which is operated by SAO for NASA under contract NAS8-39073. This research has made use of the data and resources obtained through the HEASARC online service, provided by NASA-GSFC.


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# FUSE 900–1200Å Spectroscopy of AM Her1footnote 11footnote 1Based on observations made with the NASA-CNES-CSA Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer. FUSE is operated for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University under NASA contract NAS5-3298

## 1 Introduction

AM Her, originally classified as an irregular variable and associated with the X-ray source 3U 1809+50, was discovered in 1976 to be a short period binary related to the cataclysmic variables (CVs) (Szkody & Brownlee 1997, Cowley & Crampton 1977, Priedhorsky 1977). Through its 3.1-hr orbital period, AM Her’s brightness varies continuously, with short-term flickering superimposed on an orbital light curve with a range of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`V0.7`$ mag. Independently, Tapia (1977) found the same orbital period from polarization variations indicating that the white dwarf in the system has a very strong magnetic field ($`B2\times 10^8`$ gauss) and rotates synchronously with the orbit. The magnetic field constrains the mass lost from the secondary star to flow along a stream directly onto the white dwarf rather than into an accretion disk as in the non-magnetic CVs.

The optical spectrum shows strong emission lines of H, He I, and He II, along with weaker lines of other ions such as N III, C III, C II, and Ca II, all showing large velocity variations. The strong lines show both broad and narrow components which clearly arise in different regions since their phasing and velocity amplitudes differ considerably (e.g. Crampton & Cowley 1977, Crosa et al. 1981, and many more recent studies). TiO bands from the M4 V secondary star are detected when the system is in its faint (“low”) state (e.g. Young, Schneider, & Shectman 1981).

Even early observations showed light curves and times of minima in $`V`$, $`U`$, and X-ray bands to be quite different (e.g. see Fig. 6 of Crampton & Cowley, 1977). Subsequent observations in other wavelengths have revealed additional complex patterns of orbital behavior, much of which can be interpreted as a result of the strong magnetic field. Gänsicke et al. (2001) attribute the $`V`$-band light curve to cyclotron emission arising near the accreting magnetic pole, the small $`B`$-band variation to the accretion stream, and the hard X-ray variation to the changing view of the hot plasma at the shock where stream impacts the white dwarf. Because times of minima depend on the wavelength of observation, there is some uncertainty about what ephemeris to use. In this paper we adopt the well-determined period given by Heise & Verbunt (1988) and a phase based on our time of FUV minimum light. In other published work often the adopted T0 is the time of minimum $`V`$ light which corresponds approximately to the superior conjunction of the white dwarf (e.g. Gänsicke et al. 1998, Southwell et al. 1995).

Although AM Her usually remains in its ‘high’ state ($`V`$13 mag), from time to time it drops into a ‘low’ state ($`V`$ below 15 mag) which may last weeks or months (e.g. Mattei 1980). A plot of the long-term light curve from 1977 to 1998 is shown in Fig. 1 of Hessman, Gänsicke, & Mattei (2000), which nicely illustrates the high and low states of AM Her. Although the system underwent a rather prolonged low state a few years ago (e.g. de Martino et al. 1998), the FUSE data described in the present paper were obtained during a normal ‘high’ state, with magnitude close to $`V13.3`$, as is shown by the on-line AAVSO database.

AM Her has become the proptotype of the class of magnetic CVs, commonly called “polars”, in which the rotation period of the white dwarf is locked to the orbital period. An excellent summary of the properties of these systems is given by Warner (1995).

## 2 FUSE Observations

Observations of AM Her were made with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) on 2000, June 12-13 using the large science aperture and recording the data in time-tag mode. The observations covered three FUSE orbits, and the archival processing (Calfuse 1.6.9) produced three spectra \- one for each FUSE orbital window. We also re-extracted the spectra with Calfuse 1.9.9, with the time-tagged data split into 19 individual spectra of duration 0.0033 days each (4.75 min, or 0.025P in binary orbital phase). Because of earth occultations, there are gaps in the phase coverage so that only about half the orbit is well sampled. This includes phases $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{UVmin}`$=0.28-0.52 and 0.84-0.97, using an ephemeris based on the period given by Heise & Verbunt (1988) and T0 corresponding to the time of minimum far-ultraviolet light (as given in §4). However, the observed phases do cover two main portions of the orbit, about 180 apart, with some phase overlap. The spectra have sufficient signal and time resolution to obtain phase-related information.

## 3 FUSE Spectrum of AM Her

Figure 1 shows two spectra obtained from the entire second and third FUSE orbits. These spectra cover the phases near minimum and maximum FUV light. Stellar emission features which are present include O VI 1032, 1038Å, He II 1085 Å, N III 992Å, C III 977, 1175Å, and S IV 1073Å. These lines are labelled in Fig. 1, and their rest wavelengths are marked. Note the continuum differences and the changes in the emission line structure between the two spectra.

Measurements of these lines are given in Table 1. The HJDs in the table have been converted from the MJDs provided in the FUSE data header, and the heliocentric time correction has been added. Heliocentric velocity corrections are included in the standard FUSE reductions. Most of these lines were previously observed with $`ORFEUSII`$ and Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT), but with lower spectral resolution (Mauche & Raymond 1998, Greeley et al. 1999).

The strong narrow emission lines in the summed spectra are mainly airglow, except for the narrow component in the O VI lines. O VI shows both a broad and a narrow emission component, similar to the structure seen for the strongest lines in the optical and ultraviolet regions. There is also broad emission from the stronger Lyman lines. Gänsicke et al. (1998) point out that in the UV only the highest excitation lines (N V and Si IV) show this broad plus narrow line structure, while the lower ionization features of C II, C III, Si II, and Si III show only the broad component. In the FUV we similarly find that the C III lines (and probably the Si IV lines, which are weaker) have only the broad emission line, although the profiles change significantly with binary phase.

Narrow Lyman absorption lines are seen below 950Å, especially noticeable in the spectrum at maximum FUV light. These were not observed in the $`ORFEUSII`$ spectra, probably because of their lower resolution. There is only weak evidence for any H2 absorption, in strong contrast to the supersoft X-ray binary QR And in which Hutchings et al. (2001) found probable circumbinary as well as interstellar H2 absorption.

Airglow emissions lie in the middle of the N III 992Å and He II 1085Å emission lines, making it difficult to make clean measurements of these features. While there are some airglow lines near the O VI lines, we can make use of the doublet to isolate these fairly well. The strong C III 1175Å line is free of airglow and shows very different profile changes from O VI, as described in §5 below.

## 4 FUV Continuum Changes and Adopted Phases

There are continuum changes across the whole FUSE range. We have defined a FUV phase, using the period of Heise & Verbunt (1988) and the time of minimum FUV light from our FUSE data. The continuum light curve used for our ephemeris is based on the total signal from the LiF1a channel, after removal of the strong airglow emissions. This channel has the best guiding and signal levels in the FUSE data. As discussed below, there are differences within the FUSE band, so we also measured the continuum over several ranges of wavelengths (see Figure 2, lower panel). Although all the continuum flux datasets are well fit by a sine curve, we have used the fit for 980-1090Å to define the time of minimum FUV flux and hence our zero phase ($`\mathrm{\Phi }_{FUVmin}`$=0.0). Table 2 shows the parameters of the fits for various wavelength ranges. We adopt:

$`\mathrm{\Phi }_{FUVmin}=0`$ = HJD 2451708.4594(11) + 0.128927041(5)E

Comparing this to other phase conventions used in the literature, we find $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{mag}`$ = $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{FUV}`$ \+ 0.11 (based on the ephemeris given by Heise & Verbunt 1988). Similarly orbital phases, where zero phase is the superior conjunction of the white dwarf, are $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{orb}`$ = $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{mag}`$ \+ 0.37 = $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{FUV}`$ \+ 0.48 (using information from Southwell et al. 1995 and Gänsicke et al. 1998). The problem with these alternative zero points is that they are defined by older data, so here we prefer to use only our FUV data to avoid possible error accumulation over many years.

The phasing for our FUV light curve is very similar to that observed in other ultraviolet and far-ultraviolet studies. Using IUE data, Gänsicke, Beuermann, & de Martino (1995) found the flux at $`\lambda `$1460 brightest at $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{mag}0.6`$ and faintest at $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{mag}`$0.1 (see their Fig. 5). From HST data, Gänsicke et al. (1998) observed similar phasing for three different wavelength regions between 1150Å and 1427Å, with the amplitude increasing towards shorter wavelengths (see their Fig. 3). Greeley et al. (1999), using HUT data, found the peak brightness at the Lyman limit occurred at $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{mag}0.6`$, and Mauche & Raymond (1998) found the flux at 1010Å also peaked at magnetic phase $``$0.6. Formally, our peak occurs at $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{mag}=0.61`$. Thus, all of these independent data sets are consistent in the phasing of the UV and FUV light curves.

However, in our FUSE data the continuum shows a deeper minimum over the wavelength range 950-1050Å than outside that range, with the deepest minimum occuring at $``$1000Å. There the total flux range is a factor six, compared with three or less elsewhere. This deep minimum occurs over several FUSE detector channels, and thus is unlikely to be a detector, data processing, or tracking artifact. Figure 2 shows our light curves from the 1000Å region and a longer wavelength region (1090-1180Å). Similarly, Gänsicke et al (1998) found a trend for the amplitude of the modulation to be largest at their shortest wavelength region which was centered on 1158Å, but their HST observations did not go into the shorter wavelength region covered by the FUSE data.

Mauche & Raymond (1998) reported a flux range of a factor $``$3.3 at 1010Å from their $`ORFEUSII`$ data, and they did not note any differences at other wavelengths. They fit the continuum with a two-temperature model, but there are deviations from it at wavelengths shorter and longer than 1000Å. Hence, the effect of a larger variation at $``$1000Å may be present in their data as well, or there may be some change in the FUV flux between their observations and ours. They have modeled the light curves with cyclotron components in the visible region and with a localized hotspot on the white dwarf surface in the FUV.

Our wavelength-dependent light curve is not seen in the broad-line wings when we take ratios of the two spectra. This is demonstrated in Figure 3, where the broad regions around the strong emission lines show the shallower minima seen in the continuum below 950Å and above 1050Å. This suggests that there are very wide wings associated with the strong emissions which fully overlap in the higher Lyman lines. These features are visible in the ratio of any two of the three FUSE orbits, all of which have different binary phase coverage, but it is strongest in the ratio shown in Figure 3, covering the largest continuum changes. If the ratio in the shortest wavelengths is affected by overlapping Lyman lines, it is possible that the real continuum variation remains high at all wavelengths below about 1000Å. Such a scenario is indicated schematically in Fig. 3 by the dotted line. This line is not calculated, but merely drawn in to show a real continuum that would be feasible with broad-line blanketing, and compatible with the white dwarf hot-spot model.

## 5 Emission Line Measurements and Changes

The O VI lines are higher ionization lines than any emission observed in the HST or optical ranges, and thus they are potentially of unique interest. They have been observed previously in two visits by $`ORFEUS`$ (in 1993 and 1996). The 1996 data are superior and were taken when AM Her was in a high state (see Mauche & Raymond 1998). The behavior of the O VI lines is similar to the He II line at 4686Å in having sharp and broad components with very different velocity amplitudes and phasing (see e.g. Cowley and Crampton 1977).

Line velocities were measured by fitting a parabola to the entire feature, and also by taking the flux centroid of the emission line. Values given are the mean of the separate measures. The broad component of the O VI doublet shows a velocity semi-amplitude K$``$190 km s-1 with the minimum velocity at $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{FUV}0.9`$ (or approximately $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{mag}0.0`$), whereas the narrow component shows K of only 62 km s-1 with phasing about half a cycle later. These values can be directly compared to the measurements made by Mauche & Raymond who had fewer spectra but more evenly distributed around the orbit. Their amplitudes for the broad and narrow components of O VI were K=412 and 57 km s-1, respectively, with phasing very similar to what we observe after taking into account the difference between FUV and magnetic phases.

Additionally, there is a broad component of L$`\beta `$, easily seen on either side of the airglow emission. While blended with the airglow emission, it appears to have a similar line profile and to move with the broad O VI lines (see Fig. 4). This broad emission component is also present in the other strong Lyman lines where it is too weak to measure. Figure 2 includes our flux and velocity measurements of L$`\beta `$. The broad L$`\beta `$ line shows greater fractional change than the broad O VI, so that their ratio changes markedly at phases $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{FUV}`$=0.4 to 0.5.

We also measured the flux and velocity of the C III emission line at 1175Å. This line is broad and has no narrow component significantly different from the noise level. We have also summed the spectra in groups of three to increase the signal-to-noise in the line profile. Its overall profile changes strongly, as shown in Figure 5. Using the C III velocities from all 19 spectra (to retain the maximum phase resolution), we obtained the sine-curve fit given in Table 2. Both the semi-amplitude (K=311 km s-1) and the mean value (+50 km s-1) are significantly different from the fit found for the broad O VI lines. Gänsicke et al. found C III 1176Å to have a semi-amplitude of 540 km s-1 with the minimum velocity occurring about 0.1P later than we observe. However, their HST data had more complete phase coverage, so these two C III lines probably behave similarly.

The other emission lines were weaker and contaminated with airglow emissions, so we were not able to measure them. However, Fig. 3 suggests the presence of other possible emission features if the dips are all caused by line broad line emission that has a lower flux variation than the continuum. This idea is reinforced by the fact that these wavelengths correspond to those of possible emission lines. Along the bottom of this figure we have marked the positions of the identified lines we measured, as well as the stronger S IV line positions - all of which lie at dips in the ratio plot. Thus, we conclude that several weak S IV emission features may be present that do not show up clearly in either the individual or summed spectra.

While the phasing of FUV continuum are in good agreement with those of Mauche & Raymond and with the UV data of Gänsicke et al., the velocity amplitudes of the broad lines differs, as described above. Our amplitudes are less well-defined because of our more limited phase coverage, but they do appear to cover the velocity extremes fairly well.

## 6 Absorption Lines

As noted earlier, H2 absorption is weak, indicating there is little H2 along the line of sight. In the supersoft binary system QR And where H2 was particularly strong, we presented evidence that this absorption was at least partially due to circumbinary material. By comparison, this suggests that little cool gas is leaving the AM Her system. However, we do see a clear set of narrow H absorption lines (see Figure 1). Within the precision of the FUSE wavelength scale at the shortest wavelengths, these H absorptions all show the same velocity and do not change with time. Their mean velocity is $`36\pm `$8 km s-1, which can be compared to the systemic velocity of $`19`$ km s-1 (Young, Schneider, & Shectman 1981). We note however, that our Calfuse 1.9.9 extractions gave different results in the region than the version 1.6.9 pipeline data. We regard ours as better as a) the version 1.6.9 radial velocities range systematically with wavelength while the later version 1.9.9 values do not. The FUSE wavelength scale precision is not well established at the shortward limit, but it is possible that there is a systematic velocity error of order $``$20 km s-1.

The Lyman absorption lines between 918 and 950Å were measured for equivalent width. Noting again a difference between our extractions and the pipeline, we find the absorptions have a mean EW of 0.26$`\pm `$0.04Å. There is no significant change with binary phase. Thus, the absorption appears to arise outside the system, and may be normal interstellar gas.

There are several weak to moderate absorption features seen in all spectra in the wavelength range 1036 to 1041Å, where we have good signal and are interested in contamination of the O VI emission. We identify the strongest as the C II doublet at 1036.3, 1037.0Å. Other weak absorptions match the H2 spectrum at the same velocity (close to zero, subject to the FUSE wavelength scale uncertainty), and also O I. We do not see any changes in these absorptions with binary phase. They are weak enough that they do not affect the O VI line measures significantly.

## 7 Summary

A general model of the system has been discussed and developed by a number of authors (e.g. Gänsicke et al. 1998 and Mauche & Raymond 1998 are recent examples). There is mass transfer along magnetic field lines within the system, principally on to one pole of the white dwarf, at least in the system high state. This pole is hot and causes the X-ray and UV flux variations as the system rotates. The optical-NIR light changes are caused by a combination of the temperature gradients on both the donor star and the white dwarf. The broad emission lines arise along the path of the gas stream, while the narrow emission lines appear to be located near the cusp of the donor star’s Roche lobe. The FUSE data are consistent with this picture, while providing some new details and aspects of the complex system. Our principal results are as follows.

1. The broad O VI emission lines have the same phasing as the other broad emissions, but appear to have a different velocity amplitude from that seen in 1996 in the ORFEUS data. Changes in other broad-line amplitudes have been noted (e.g. by Crosa et al. 1981 for He II 4686Å), and presumably indicate variations in the gas stream ionisation and kinematics, as the mass transfer rate varies.

2. The narrow O VI emission lines also behave much like the other narrow emissions. Our data agree with the ORFEUS results in velocity, but the higher FUSE resolution gives a very different separation of flux between the broad and narrow components. While we do not cover the entire orbit, we find the narrow line to have less that 1/4 the broad line flux at all times and that the narrow line is very weak at FUV light minimum.

The velocities of the narrow lines seem more stable over the history of various investigations and support the standard interpretation that they arise at the Roche lobe cusp. The range of ionization seen (from Ca II to O VI) is very large, and it is clear that some mechanisms other than photoionization are involved. If we examine the velocity amplitudes for all the lines, there is a trend with ionization potential running from values near 100 km s-1 for Ca II and H I to about 60 km s-1 for O VI and N V. He I, C II, He II, Si IV, N III are part of the intermediate sequence. As proposed by Gänsicke et al., this suggests an ionization gradient moving away from the Roche lobe cusp towards the system center of mass.

3. The FUV light curve shows strong changes over the FUSE wavelength range. This is compatible with the model of a hot spot on the white dwarf if a significant part of the FUV flux arises as broad line emission from all the lines detected and where the higher Lyman lines overlap each other.

4. We find sharp H I Lyman absorptions with a constant radial velocity of $``$36 km s-1. Weak H2 absorption appears to be present, which does not change with binary phase, and has the same velocity as other interstellar absorptions. AM Her’s H2 absorption is much weaker than that in the X-ray binary QR And, which is at a similar distance from us.

The authors acknowledge use of the AAVSO web site and thank the many variable star observers for their contributions to this dataset. APC also acknowledges her support from NASA for this work.