Abstract
AM CVn stars are ultracompact binaries (P_{orb}< 65 min) where a hydrogen-deficient low-mass, degenerate donor star overfills its Roche lobe and transfers matter to a companion white dwarf via an accretion disc. SDSS J0926+36 is currently the only eclipsing AM CVn star and also the shortest period eclipsing binary known. Its light curve displays deep (∼ 2 mag) eclipses every 28.3 min, which last for ∼ 2 min, as well as ∼ 2 mag amplitude outbursts every ∼ 100-200 d. Superhumps were seen in its quiescent light curve in some occasions, probably as a reminiscence of a (in some cases undetected) previous outburst. Its eclipsing nature allows a unique opportunity to disentangle the emission from several different light sources, and to map the surface brightness distribution of its hydrogen-deficient accretion disc with the aid of maximum entropy eclipse mapping techniques. Here we report the eclipse mapping analysis of optical light curves of SDSS J0926+36, collected with the 2.4 m Liverpool Robotic Telescope, covering 20 orbits of the binary over 5 nights of observations between 2012 February and March. The object was in quiescence at all runs. Our data show no evidence of superhumps nor of orbital modulation due to anisotropic emission from a bright spot at disc rim. Accordingly, the average out-of-eclipse flux level is consistent with that of the superhump-subtracted previous light curves. We combined all runs to obtain an orbital light curve of improved S/N. The corresponding eclipse map shows a compact source at disc centre (T_{b}simeq 17000 K), a faint, cool accretion disc (∼ 4000 K) plus enhanced emission along the gas stream (∼ 6000 K) beyond the impact point at the outer disc rim, suggesting the occurrence of gas stream overflow at that epoch.
