The peculiar star RX Puppis

Abstract

We have obtained the first high dispersion observations of RX Puppis in the wavelength region 1200 - 3200 A with the “International Ultraviolet Explorer” (IUE). The anomalies we observed in lines such as He II, C III], C IV, N III], N IV], 0 III], and Si III], that show split line profiles, Doppler displaced component(s) 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 A0 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.