1996A&A...307..840B

We present the results of simultaneous time resolved polarimetric and photometric observations of AE Aqr carried out in 1994, July-August, at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory. We found that the nightly mean value of circular polarization can be suspected to vary from night to night around an average value of 0.06%±0.01%. The interpretation of this result in the frame of cyclotron mechanism excludes a model of AEAqr as a system with an accreting white dwarf. The analysis of the intrinsic magnitudes and colours of the flaring component and the absence of noticeable variations of circular polarization in the transition of the system from quiet to flaring state favour a thermal character of the flaring radiation in the optical. The colour indices of flares are close to those of a black body with T∼15000/20000K and an emitting area of S∼10²⁰cm². This permits to conclude that the region of flaring energy release is beyond the magnetosphere of the compact object.