TIME-RESOLVED SPECTROSCOPY OF AL COMAE

We present time-resolved spectroscopy for AL Com, one of the faintest known tremendous outburst amplitude dwarf novae (TOADs). Using newly p roduced models for a white dwarf and red secondary, we show that the s tar AL Com has orbitally phase-resolved broad absorption features of y et unidentified origin and an optically thin accretion disk. Radial ve locities measured from the few spectra available show essentially no m otion of the white dwarf, leading to a strict upper limit on the secon dary mass of less than or equal to 0.18 M., with a likely value of 0.0 4-0.09 M.. This agrees well with recent theoretical arguments placing the TOADs as post-period minimum cataclysmic variables.