Variation of the light and period of the magnetic cataclysmic variable am her

Abstract

Ground-based, long-term optic variability of AM Her, covering the period between 2003-2008, has been conducted to study the features seen in both low and high states of the system. Low-state analysis shows the presence of short-term, low-amplitude light variations of about 0.02-0.03 mag with a mean power time between 16 s and 226 s. Brightness variations on the order of 0.7-2 mag, which could be due to the stellar activity of the component in the system, are also detected. A total of 30 years' times of minimum light given in the literature are combined with nine times of minima obtained in this study. We represented the (observed-calculated) diagram by a parabolic curve and also by two broken lines. Under the assumption of a parabolic variation, we estimate an increase in period, days yr-1, with a mass transfer rate of Myr-1, in agreement with the previous findings by a different method. © 2008. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.