Artist view of γ Cas. The system consists of a massive Be star surrounded by a dense decretion disc, orbited by an accreting white dwarf. Material from the Be disk fuels the accretion disc of its companion. This accretion disc is likely truncated by the white dwarf’s magnetic field, with accreted material then following magnetic field lines. Very hot plasma is generated in a shock above the magnetic pole, leading to X-ray emission. The X-rays then illuminate the white dwarf surface, the accreting material column, and the truncated accretion disk, which generates fluorescent X-rays.