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Hubble Space Telescope Studies of Exposed White Dwarfs in Dwarf Novae

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Edward M. Sion

Dept. of Astronomy and Astrophysics

Villanova University

Villanova, PA 19085

Presented at the 84th AAVSO Spring Meeting, May 13, 1995

Abstract

Coordinated AAVSO optical observations and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) far ultraviolet (UV) spectroscopic observations of cataclysmic variables, during dwarf nova quiescence when the underlying white dwarf is exposed in the far UV, have yielded a number of new insights into accretional heating, photospheric abundances of the accreted atmosphere, and rotational velocities of the underlying degenerates. Recent results of synthetic spectral analyses of HST spectra are highlighted. Their impact on our understanding of accretion physics and the effect of accretion on the white dwarf are discussed.