Ultraviolet spectrophotometry of 2A 1822--371: A bulge on the accretion disk

The X-ray source 2A 1822--371 has been observed with the IUE satellite over an 8 hour period. Long and short wavelength exposures of duration 45 or 60 minutes were alternated in order to resolve the 5.57 hr photometric modulation of the star. The data provide evidence that the shape of the 5.57 hr modulation evolves smoothly with energy between extremes defined by the optical and X-ray curves. The far-UV light curve is more deeply modulated than the X-ray light curve. The combined ultraviolet and the UBV band optical data can be fitted with a single blackbody of temperature 2.7 x 104 K, or an optically thick disk model with parameters T/sub asterisk/ = 1.2 x 105 K and R/sub out//R/sub in/approx.30. A single power-law model does not adequately represent the continuum. There is evidence of absorption due to the 2200 A interstellar feature whose depth requires a color excess, E(B--V)approx.0.1, with 3 sigma upper and lower bounds of 0.29 and 0.01. Emission lines of C IV 1550 A and N V 1240 A are detected in the UV spectrum. The work of Mason et al. and White et al. suggests that the optical and ultraviolet emission arises in an accretion disk, whereas the X-radiation is emitted from a scattering cloud that envelopes a central compact object. In the present paper, the 5.57 hr optical, X-ray and ultraviolet modulation of 2A 1822--371 is intrepreted as the result of partial occultation of the emitting region by a comparison star and a bulge on the outer accretion disk. X-ray heating of the bulge will probably also contribute to the modulation at optical and ultraviolet wavelengths