  An XMM-Newton observation of the nearby "pre-cataclysmic" short-period (P_orb
= 3.62 hr) binary QS Vir (EC 13471-1258) revealed regular narrow X-ray eclipses
when the white dwarf passed behind its M2-4 dwarf companion. The X-ray emission
provides a clear signature of mass transfer and accretion onto the white dwarf.
The low-resolution XMM-Newton EPIC spectra are consistent with a cooling flow
model and indicate an accretion rate of Mdot= 1.7\times10^-13M\odot/yr. At 48
pc distant, QS Vir is then the second nearest accreting cataclysmic variable
known, with one of the lowest accretion rates found to date for a non-magnetic
system. To feed this accretion through a wind would require a wind mass loss
rate of Mdot ~ 2 \times 10^-12M\odot/yr if the accretion efficiency is of the
order of 10%. Consideration of likely mass loss rates for M dwarfs suggests
this is improbably high and pure wind accretion unlikely. A lack of accretion
disk signatures also presents some difficulties for direct Roche lobe overflow.
We speculate that QS Vir is on the verge of Roche lobe overflow, and that the
observed mass transfer could be supplemented by upward chromospheric flows on
the M dwarf, analogous to spicules and mottles on the Sun, that escape the
Roche surface to be subsequently swept up into the white dwarf Roche lobe. If
so, QS Vir would be in a rare evolutionary phase lasting only a million years.
The X-ray luminosity of the M dwarf estimated during primary eclipse is L_X = 3
\times 10^28 erg/s, which is consistent with that of rapidly rotating
"saturated" K and M dwarfs.
