Application of Realistic Model Atmospheres
to Eclipse Maps of Accretion Disks: The Effective
Temperature and Flare of the Disk in the Dwarf Nova Z Chamaeleontis
Edward L. Robinson
Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712
Janet H. Wood
Department of Physics, Keele University, Keele, ST5 5BG, England
Richard A. Wade
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State
University,
University Park, PA 16802
In a previous paper we presented ultraviolet
(effective wavelength = 1550 Å) high-speed photometry of
the eclipsing dwarf nova Z Cha obtained near the peak of a normal
eruption, and we derived a maximum-entropy disk map from the eclipse
light curve.
In the present paper we report a new calculation of the disk map
and temperature profile.
The calculation differs from the previous one - and all other
calculations of disk maps - in two ways:
First, we have used realistic model atmospheres to convert the
surface brightness of the disk to effective temperature and
second, we have included the effects of limb darkening, which
is large at ultraviolet wavelengths and strongly affects the
inferred temperature and geometry of the disk.
Inclusion of limb darkening in the models made the distribution
of surface brightness with radius much steeper than the distribution
derived without limb darkening, but the use of realistic model spectra
instead of blackbody spectra to convert the surface brightness to
temperature flattened the distribution again, so that the net effect
was to leave the temperature distribution nearly unchanged.
The distribution remains much flatter than
the r-3/4 law predicted for optically-thick, steady-state disks.
In agreement with our earlier results,
we find that the disk in Z Cha becomes flared during eruptions.
The derived flare angle is large, 6°, but not as large as
the flare needed for a disk with zero limb darkening.
For comparison, model atmospheres for disks similar to the disk in ZCha
give photosphere heights corresponding to flare angles
between 3° and 4°.