Superionized plasmas in Algol binaries

Of three types of circumstellar material in interacting binary stars (mass-transferring stream, accretion disk, and outflowing gas), the third type is studied for semidetached binaries of the Algol type. A survey of 11 systems observed during the total primary eclipse shows that the same type of emission-line spectrum appears, but that important differences exist. They seem to correlate with the character of the mass-accreting star, although it is not clear if the correlation is with spectral type or with mass. The line emitting plasma is no doubt specified, but the dominant electron temperature varies from system to system and determines the relative line strengths. Evidence for CN0 processing, affecting the abundance ratios C/N, is also present in some systems