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Paper: Time Resolved Spectropolarimetric Studies of Magnetic Cataclysmic Variables with the SALT
Volume: 343, Astronomical Polarimetry: Current Status and Future Directions
Page: 415
Authors: Buckley, D.A.H.; O'Donoghue, D.; Potter, S.B.; Nordsieck, K.H.
Abstract: Polarimetry will be a niche capability provided by the Prime Focus Imaging Spectrograph (PFIS) on SALT (the Southern African Large Telescope). A number of polarimetric observing modes will be possible, including time-resolved all-Stokes spectropolarimetry. Such observations are key to our understanding of the accretion mechanisms operating in magnetic cataclysmic variable stars (mCVs). Indeed, for the first time, PFIS will allow us to undertake simultaneous all-Stokes observations, with unprecedented time resolution, through synchronization of the waveplate rotation with on-chip charge shuf- fling. This paper will present some of the details of the PFIS spectropolarimetry modes and will discuss its application to time series observations of mCVs. Such observations will allow for far more quantitative modelling of the accretion process through the utilization of so-called “Stokes imaging” in combination with traditional Doppler tomography.
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