TT Arietis: the low state revisited

We present optical and ultraviolet spectroscopy of TT Ari obtained during t he 1982-85 low state. Tn November/December 1983, accretion had almost compl etely ceased, unveiling both the white dwarf and the secondary star. The IU E spectrum obtained during that occasion contains absorption lines of Ly al pha, Si rv, C Iv, and He II. We derive a photospheric temperature of T-wd = 39 000 K and find the abundances of Carbon and Helium to be 0.5 and 2.0 ti mes solar, respectively. An upper limit of v sin i less than or similar to 5 750 km s(-1) is derived from the metal line profiles. Comparison with the IUE spectrum taken one year earlier during the low state shows no evidence for cooling of the white dwarf over a time span of one year. The optical s pectrum displays Balmer absorption lines from the white dwarf, overlayed wi th narrow emission lines, as well as the TiO absorption bands of the second ary star, for which we derive a spectral type M3.5+/-0.5. A distance of d = 335 +/- 50 pc is derived from both, the white dwarf and the secondary star . The data indicate that the low-state accretion disc in TT Ari was optical ly thin at least for r less than or similar to 12R(wd).