X-ray and EUV Spectroscopy of the Boundary Layer Emission of Nonmagnetic Cataclysmic Variables

Abstract

EUVE, ROSAT, and ASCA observations of the boundary layer emission of nonmagnetic cataclysmic variables (CVs) are reviewed. EUVE spectra reveal that the effective temperature of the soft component of high-Mdot nonmagnetic CVs is kT ~ 10-20 eV and that its luminosity is ~ 0.1-0.5 times the accretion disk luminosity. Although the EUV spectra are very complex and belie simple interpretation, the physical conditions of the boundary layer gas are constrained by emission lines of highly ionized Ne, Mg, Si, and Fe. ROSAT and ASCA spectra of the hard component of nonmagnetic CVs are satisfactorily but only phenomenologically described by multi-temperature thermal plasmas, and the constraints imposed on the physical conditions of this gas are limited by the relatively weak and blended lines. It is argued that significant progress in our understanding of the X-ray spectra of nonmagnetic CVs will come with future observations with XMM, AXAF, and Astro-E.