Physics
Scientific paper
Mar 1999
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999phdt........20m&link_type=abstract
PhD thesis, Univ. Sussex , (1999)
Physics
1
Scientific paper
Intermediate polars, a subclass of cataclysmic variables, are binary stars in which a late-type star transfers mass onto a magnetised white dwarf rotating asynchronously with the orbital motion. The optical emission is dominated by light from the gas flow, and by studying it we can learn much about the accretion physics in intermediate polars and cataclysmic variables in general. This thesis studies an intermediate polar which also happens to be a dwarf nova, GK Per. GK Per presents two very different mass transfer states, low/quiescent and high/outburst. GK Per is also one of the intermediate polars where the presence of an accretion disc is most probable. The study of optical spectrophotometric data obtained during both luminosity stages gives a complete picture of the system's accretion processes and is the key to the detection of the accretion disc. Chapter 1 briefly describes the structure of interacting binary stars, focusing on dwarf novae, magnetic systems, and GK Per in particular. Chapter 2 describes the data and reduction procedures used in this study. The analysis of the outburst and quiescent data, and the results derived from their study, are described in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 respectively. The study of the donor star in GK Per is developed in Chapter 5. The last chapter presents the main conclusions drawn from this work -- we find no evidence for heating of the inner face of the companion during outburst. GK Per seems consistent with the canonical picture for cataclysmic variables and there is no need to apply new accretion models to explain any of the results obtained. Even the peculiar quasi-periodic oscillations previously observed during outburst can be understood completely in terms of the geometry of this intermediate polar.
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