A Preliminary Observational Search for Circumbinary Disks Around Cataclysmic Variables

Abstract

Circumbinary (CB) disks have been proposed as a mechanism to extract orbital angular momentum from cataclysmic variables (CVs) during their evolution. As proposed by Taam & Spruit, these disks extend outwards to several a.u. and should be detected observationally via their infrared flux or by absorption lines in the ultraviolet spectra of the CV. We have made use of archival HST/STIS spectra as well as our own near-IR imaging to search for observational evidence of such CB disks in seven CVs. Based on the null result, we place an upper limit on the column density of the disk of N_H~10^17 cm^-2.

accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal (July 2004)

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