The spectrum of RW Sex consists of 25 FUSE exposures (orbits) combined together. From exposure to exposure the continuum remains fairly constant and only the bottom of the broad lines shows some variation. The spectrum shows broad absorption lines from high order ionization species (all blueshifted here by about 3A): N iv, S vi, C iii, N iii, O vi, S iv, P iv & P v. The spectrum is also rich in ISM lines: molecular hydrogen, oxygen and some metal lines such as C ii, Ar i, Fe ii and many P ii lines. The broad absorption lines can be seen better when considering the difference between exposures as a function of the orbital phase (due to the inclination of the system). Since only the broad absorption lines vary with the phase, a difference graph clearly shows the broad lines. In the difference graph the absorption lines appear as broad emission and are blue shifted by about 1.5A. The FUSE spectrum of RW Sex combined with existing HST and IUE spectra was analyzed in Linnell et al. (2010).

          Bibliography

FUSE Data

Synthetic Spectrum

Click to see larger version of the plot

Click to see larger version of the plot

These data and models were published in the paper:

Linnell, A., Godon, P., Hubeny, I., Sion, E.M., Szkody, P. 2011, ApJ, 719, 271

Notes on figures:

When a model is shown, the portions of the observed spectrum that have been masked before the spectral fit are in blue, while the rest of the observed spectrum is in red. The model fit is shown the solide line in black (or possibly white). If the model is a composite made of a disk model and a white dwarf model, then these are shown with the dashed- and dotted lines (respectively). Some models include the effect of quasi-molecular HI absorption features, these are labelled "Q-mol" in the spectrum.