Flickering of the jet‑ejecting symbiotic star MWC 560

Abstract

We analyzed the optical photometric data of short‑term variability (flickering) of the accreting white dwarf in the jet‑ejecting symbiotic star MWC 560. The observations were obtained on 17 nights during the period November 2011 to October 2019. The color‑magnitude diagram shows that the hot component of the system becomes redder as it gets brighter. For the flickering source, we find that it has color 0.14 < B − V < 0.40, temperature in the range 6,300 < Tfl < 11,000 K, and radius 1.2 < Rfl < 18 R⊙. We find a strong correlation (correlation coefficient 0.76, significance <0.001) between B band magnitude and the average radius of the flickering source—as the brightness of the system increases, the size of the flickering source also increases. The estimated temperature is similar to that of the bright spot of cataclysmic variables. In 2019, the flickering was missing, and the B–V color of the hot component became bluer.