Statistics – Computation
Scientific paper
Mar 1988
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1988a%26a...192..187h&link_type=abstract
Astronomy and Astrophysics (ISSN 0004-6361), vol. 192, no. 1-2, March 1988, p. 187-191.
Statistics
Computation
18
Accretion Disks, Light Curve, Mass Transfer, Stellar Atmospheres, X Ray Binaries, Computational Astrophysics, Dwarf Novae, Magnetohydrodynamic Stability, Stellar Envelopes
Scientific paper
The light curves of soft X-ray transients are computed in the framework of the mass transfer instability model of Hameury et al. (1986). In this model, the atmosphere of the secondary star is heated by X-rays from the primary and develops an instability when the X-ray flux becomes comparable to the intrinsic stellar flux. The structure of the illuminated mass losing envelope during the transient event is calculated, and it is found that although energy is deposited at a few Thompson optical depths, the atmosphere is almost isothermal down to about 100 Thompson optical depths, as a result of radiative heat transport towards the interior of the star. This strongly reinforces the instability. The accretion rate on to the compact object is then computed using a time-dependent numerical code to describe the accretion disk. It is found that the observed light curves are well reproduced if one takes the Shakura-Sunyaev alpha parameter of the order of unity, the rise times obtained are of the order of days, and decay times are of the order of weeks.
Hameury Jean-Marie
King Andrew R.
Lasota Jean-Pierre
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