The mysterious SU UMa stars

Details The mysterious SU UMa stars The mysterious SU UMa stars

Jun 1990

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1990s%26t....79..607c&link_type=abstract

Sky and Telescope (ISSN 0037-6604), vol. 79, 1990, p. 607-610.

Physics

Binary Stars, Cataclysmic Variables, Dwarf Novae, Main Sequence Stars, Stellar Physics, Energy Sources, Gravitational Fields, Light Sources, Potential Energy

Scientific paper

This paper discusses the characteristics and the source of energy of the explosive stars called cataclysmic variables (CVs), with special attention given to the SU UMa stars, which represent CVs which have disks. In SU UMa binaries, a gas stream from a cool reddish star hits an accretion disk spiraling around a white dwarf. The impact of the stream produces a bright 'hot spot' on the edge of the disk, seen only when the system is quiescent and the disk is relatively dim (during outbursts, the hot spot is swamped by the light of the disk itself). The principal source of energy and light of most CVs is the gravitational potential energy released by matter falling from the dim reddish companion onto the white dwarf. The mechanism involved in the overflow of the reddish star is believed to be magnetic braking. Simulations are presented that explain the SU UMa phenomena and which may be applicable to other high-mass-ratio interacting binaries.

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