1997A&A...327..183B

We report the discovery of two new AM Herculis systems (polars), identified as the optical V∼19mag and V∼20mag counterparts of the soft X-ray sources RX J2022.6-3954 and RX J0132.7-6554 detected during the ROSAT All-Sky Survey and present the results of our optical and X-ray follow-up observations. From the cyclotron emission lines detected in the optical spectra we determine magnetic field strengths in the accretion region of B=67(2)MG for RX J2022.6-3954 and B=68(2)MG for RX J0132.7-6554. With P_orb=78.0176(4)min for RX J2022.6-3954 and P_orb=77.831(8)min for RX J0132.7-6554 both objects have orbital periods which lie at the lower limit of the period distribution of CVs. RX J0132.7-6554 is the shortest period polar yet detected. Both objects show no eclipse by the secondary stars, and, therefore must have orbital inclinations of i≲85°. As RX J2022.6-3954 shows a dip due to the accretion stream crossing our line-of-sight and the accretion region on the white dwarf is partially self-eclipsed we can further constrain the orbital inclination and co-latitude of the magnetic pole to be 45°<i<85° and 45°>δ>5°. From the absence of M-star features in the faint phase spectra of both objects we obtain a lower limit for the distance to RX J2022.6-3954 of d>190pc and to RX J0132.7-6554 of d>300pc . The high magnetic fields and short orbital periods make both objects highly interesting in the context of the evolution of accreting close-binary systems.