EUVE Spectroscopy of Polars

Abstract

An admittedly pedantic but hopefully useful and informative analysis is presented of the EUVE 70--180 Angstrom spectra of nine polars. These spectra are fit with three different models---a blackbody, a pure-H stellar atmosphere, and a solar abundance stellar atmosphere---to reveal the presence of spectral features such as absorption lines and edges, and to investigate the sensitivity of the derived (kT, N_H, solid angle) and inferred (fractional emitting area, bolometric luminosity) parameters to the model assumptions. Among the models tested, the blackbody model best describes the observed spectra, although the untested irradiated solar abundance stellar atmosphere model is likely a better overall description of the EUV/soft X-ray spectra of polars.