A SEARCH FOR RADIO PULSATIONS FROM AE AQUARII

AE Aquarii is classified as a DQ Herculis-type cataclysmic variable, c omprising a magnetized white dwarf primary and a K5 dwarf secondary. I ts orbital period is 9.88 hr while the rotational period of the magnet ized primary is 33.08 s. AE Aqr is characterized by coherent pulsation s and quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in the optical, UV, and soft X-ray wavelength bands. It also emits TeV gamma-rays, which may themse lves be modulated on a period near the rotation period of the primary. In addition, AE Aqr displays violent flaring activity at optical, sof t X-ray, and radio wavelengths. We have searched for coherent pulsatio ns and QPOs in the radio emission from AE Aqr. The Very Large Array (V LA) was used on 1994 January 29 to observe AE Aqr continuously for sim ilar to 10 hr at 8.4 GHz (lambda = 3.6 cm). We find no evidence for th e presence of coherent pulsations or QPOs. An upper limit of 1.6% of t he mean flux density is placed on the amplitude of pulsations on frequ encies greater than 0.01 Hz. Over bandwidths of 1% on the known fundam ental and harmonic periods, the upper limits are 0.8%. The power spect rum is characterized by red noise on frequencies less than 0.01 Hz. It is well fitted by a power law with an index of 1.8. Furthermore, comp aring the present observations with data obtained at seven previous ep ochs, we find no evidence of a relationship between flaring activity a nd the orbital phase.