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ASAS-SN 13cl : A Newly-Discovered Cataclysmic Binary with an Anomalously Warm Secondary

The spectrum of the recently discovered cataclysmic variable star (CV) ASAS-SN 13cl shows that a secondary star with spectral type K4 (+- 2 subclasses) contributes roughly half the optical light. The radial velocities of the secondary are modulated on an orbital period P_orb = 4.86 hr with a velocity semiamplitude K = 246 +- 9 km/s, and the light curve shows ellipsoidal variations and an apparent grazing eclipse. At this orbital period, the secondary stars in most CVs are substantially cooler, with spectral types near M3. ASN-13cl therefore joins the small group of CVs with anomalously warm secondary stars, which apparently form when the onset of mass transfer occurs after the secondary has undergone significant nuclear evolution.