April 23, at the Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute, a seminar was held by the director of the Pulkovo Observatory, Nazar Robertovich Ikhsanov, on the topic “Pulsar-like white dwarfs in cataclysmic variables”. The report was devoted to discovering two new sources, which, in a number of manifestations, resemble the two most exotic representatives of the family of explosive variable stars: AE Aquarii and AR Scorpii. All four objects are close binary systems consisting of a red dwarf and a rapidly rotating magnetic white dwarf. Analysis of the parameters of these objects within the framework of the hypothesis of a single mechanism of their origin leads to an estimate of the magnitude of the white dwarf’s magnetic field and the expected value of the rate of change in its spin period. The appearance of two additional candidates for the subclass of pulsar-like white dwarfs forces us to reconsider previously accepted estimates of the galactic population size of these sources.
