The peculiar star RX Puppis

Abstract

The first high dispersion observations of RX Puppis in the wavelength region 1200-3200 A were obtained with the International Ultraviolet Explorer. The anomalies observed in lines such as He II, semiforbidden C III, C IV, semiforbidden N III, semiforbidden N IV, semiforbidden O III, and semiforbidden Si III, which show split line profiles and Doppler displaced components, suggest dynamic activity in circumstellar material that probably has the form of rings and/or gas streamers between the cool giant and the hot companion. The Mg II lines show P-Cygni structure arising in the Mira primary. The continuum cannot be due to a star earlier than AO II and it may arise in an accretion disk around the hot secondary. Moreover, the line emission requires photoionization either from a hot subdwarf or the inner accretion disk.