Stream eclipse mapping with 'fire-flies'

Abstract

We apply a new method of eclipse mapping to the light curves of eclipsing polars. The technique aims to locate the bright emission associated with the accretion stream, using a technique that makes the fewest prior assumptions about the location of the accretion stream material. We have obtained data of EP Dra and HU Aqr with the S-Cam 2 superconducting tunnel junction camera using the William Herschel Telescope. The location of emission regions in both systems show that previously assumed trajectories are consistent with those found using our technique. Most of the emission is located in a region where we expect material to be confined to magnetic field lines, particularly for HU Aqr, while there appears to be less emission from where we conventionally expect material to follow a ballistic trajectory from the L1-point.