On the Source of Optical Variability and Outflow in
Z CMa System

S.A. Lamzin1, M. Teodorani2, L. Errico2, A.A. Vittone2, E.A. Kolotilov3,
A.S. Miroshnichenko4 and R.V. Yudin4

1 Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow V-234, 119899 Russia
2 Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Via Moiariello 16, I-80131 Napoli, Italy
3 Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Crimean Laboratory, Crimea, 334413 Nauchny, Ukraine
4 Central Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences at Pulkovo, 196140, Saint-Petersburg, Russia


We discuss our new and already published photometric and spectroscopic data regarding the binary system Z CMa and conclude that these data, in contrast to wide spread opinion, do not contradict the hypotesis that a FU Ori type secondary rather than the IR primary is the main source of the observed optical variations and outflow. In the frame of this hypothesis, we explain observed larger polarization in the emission lines than in the continuum as a result of Thomson scattering of line quanta inside the region of their formation.


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