Modelling of the magnetic accretion flow in HU Aquarii

We present a magnetic stripping model for AM Her type objects. Our model is based on an equilibrium condition between ram pressure and magnetic pressu re in a stiff dipolar magnetic field. We investigate the detailed geometry of the stripping process, most of which can be tackled analytically. By inv olving additional numerical calculations, the model allows the prediction o f phase-resolved spectra and Doppler tomograms. The emission-line features from the companion star, the horizontal stream and the accretion curtain ar e identified with the emission-line components found by Gaussian fitting to observational data of HU Aqr in its high-accretion state. Given the simpli city of the model, its agreement with the observation is remarkably good, a nd it enables us to derive a number of physical quantities such as stellar masses and radii, total mass accretion rate, bulk temperature, and coupling density.