Geometrical Constraints on the Hot Spot in Beta Lyrae

Abstract

We present results from six years of recalibrated and new spectropolarimetric data taken with the University of Wisconsin's Half-Wave Spectropolarimeter (HPOL) and six years of new data taken with the photoelastic modulating polarimeter (PEMP) at the Flower and Cook Observatory. Combining these data with polarimetric data from the literature allows us to characterize the intrinsic BVRI polarized light curves. A repeatable discrepancy of 0.245 days (approximately 6 hours) between the secondary minima in the total light curve and the polarization curve in the V band, with similar behavior in the other bands, may represent the first direct evidence for an accretion hot spot on the disk edge.