Signs of a dead disk in AE Aquarii

The mass-exchange picture in the close binary AE Aqr is discussed in the fr ame of the pulsar-like white dwarf model (Ikhsanov 1998, 1999). It is shown that within this approach a dead disk around the white dwarf magnetosphere is expected. The disk forms during (and/or just after) the outburst associ ated with the white dwarf spin-up --> spin-down state transition. In the cu rrent epoch the inner and the outer radii of the disk are evaluated as 5.5 x 10(10) cm and 8 x 10(10) cm, respectively, and the average mass-exchange rate in the system is 4.4 x 10(16) g s(-1). About a half of the accretion e nergy is released in the boundary layer at the inner edge of the disk in th e optical-UV (about 80%) and soft X-ray (about 20%) spectral domains. The m ass exchange between the components is governed by the stream-fed mechanism of mass transfer through the L-1 point. The plasma inflowing from the seco ndary interacts with the outer edge of the dead disk and streams out from t he system mainly at phases 0.25 divided by 0.75. The velocity of outflowing plasma in quiescence lies within the interval 380 divided by 550 km s(-1) and its temperature is about 10(4) K. The other parts of the dead disk are relatively cool similar to (2 divided by 3) x 10(3) K and contribute to the system radiation in the IR spectral region.