Flickering as a Probe of Accretion Disk Structure

Details Flickering as a Probe of Accretion Disk Structure Flickering as a Probe of Accretion Disk Structure

Jul 1994

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994hst..prop.5498h&link_type=abstract

HST Proposal ID #5498

Physics

1

Hst Proposal Id #5498 Hot Stars, Eruptive B

Scientific paper

We will use the FOS in RAPID mode (<3.2s time resolution) to record lightcurves,spectra, power spectra, and wavelength-to-wavelength correlationsin a study of flickering accretion disks in 3 bright cataclysmicvariables. An enigmatic signature of accretion, flickering is probably akey to the poorly understood mechanism of accretion disk viscosity.Characterizing flickering properties over a wide range of wavelengthssensing different physical conditions at different radii in the disk willconstrain flickering mechanisms and test the specific prediction thatflickering occurs on the Keplerian timescale at each radius in the disk.Optical light senses a superposition of flickering from all disk radii, while UV light isolates flickering from the hotter inner regions. Astandard steady-state disk model, predicts a break in the flickeringpower spectrum at a timescale proportional to wavelength squared and tothe square root of the mass accretion rate. IUE's long-term monitoringcampaigns searched for this effect in Seyfert galaxies, where theexpected Kepler timescale is days to weeks, but the disk predictionswere not confirmed -- the Seyfert's optical and ultraviolet continuavaried synchronously. Does this mean that Seyfert's don't possess disks?Our experiment will discover if the disk predictions hold up forflickering in cataclysmic variables, where we know disks are present.

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