2008ApJ...683..409C

We present phase-resolved low-resolution infrared spectra of AM Her and ST LMi, two low-field polars that we observed with SPEX on the IRTF. Optical/NIR light curves are also published to help constrain the viewing geometry and brightness of the objects at the time they were observed. Currently, only limited IR spectra have been published for these objects, and none with the phase-coverage presented here. In both cases, the resulting spectra are dominated by emission from the secondary star in the NIR. However, the emission regions are also self-eclipsed, allowing us to isolate the cyclotron emission through subtraction of the dim-phase spectrum. We use a constant-lambda prescription to model the changing cyclotron features seen in the resulting data. For AM Her, we find a best-fit model of B=13.6 MG, kT=4.0 keV, and logΛ=5.0. The cyclotron derived accretion geometry is consistent with i=50° and β=85°. For ST LMi, B=12.1 MG, kT=3.3 keV, and logΛ=5.7, with i=55° and β=128°.