scholarly journals Stability of Accreting White Dwarfs in Close Binary Systems

1977 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 327-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Sienkiewicz ◽  
W. Dziembowski

AbstractWe present results of thermal and vibrational stability analysis for 1 M⊙ white dwarf models corresponding to various accretion rates ≳ 10−11 M⊙/y. Accretion is assumed to be spherically symmetric and stationary. Thermal instability due to nuclear burning of hydrogen (at lower accretion rates) and helium (at higher rates) was found. At medium rates two growing thermal modes are simultaneously present. Vibrational instability was found for all models except those corresponding to highest accretion rates. The excitation rates for some nonradial g-modes are at least 3 orders of magnitude higher than those for radial pulsations. These rates are also higher than the excitation rates for thermal modes in certain range of accretion rates corresponding to high luminosities and effective temperatures. Among objects in which these instabilities may be important are symbiotic stars and nuclei of planetary nebulae.

1988 ◽  
Vol 20 (01) ◽  
pp. 569-594
Author(s):  
J. Smak ◽  
R.H. Koch ◽  
K.D. Abhyankar ◽  
J. Andersen ◽  
A.H. Batten ◽  
...  

During the XlXth General Assembly of the IAU in Delhi the number of members of Cotrmission 42 increased to 260. This simply reflects the growing interest and importance of our field. Growing is not only the number of astronomers involved in research on CBS but also the number of papers resulting from that activity. As an example one can quote the numbers of papers listed during the last few years in Sections 117 (Close Binaries), 119 (Eelipsing Binaries), and 120 (Spectroscopic Binaries) of theAstronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts:705(1982), 775(1983), 836(1984), 1080(1985), and 911(1986); note that many additional references could be added to these numbers from other sections. Naturally, such numbers alone do not reflect the quality and even less so the position and significance of the CBS field. Here one could perhaps mention an impressive record of successful research proposals involving requests for the observing time on large, ground based telescopes and on space instruments. Indeed, in spite of a very strong competition from other fields, programs involving CBS are usually placed very high on the priority lists (cf. Sections 2D and 2E). Obviously, the close binary systems, their evolution, and the physical processes which occur in them (accretion, stellar winds, nuclear burning, etc) appear interesting and important not only to those who are involved in their studies but also to astronomers from other fields.


1989 ◽  
Vol 107 ◽  
pp. 353-353
Author(s):  
Y. Nakamura ◽  
M. Kitamura

Abstract.From analysis of the photometric ellipticity effect in seven well-understood detached close binary systems, empirical values of the exponent α of gravity-darkening have been practically deduced for eleven main-sequence components of spectral types A, F and G which should cover the range of structural change (from radiative to convective) in stellar atmospheres. The result indicate that values of the exponent diminish gradually with decreasing effective temperatures from α ~ 1.0 for radiative atmospheres with T > 8500 K to α =0.2 ~ 0.3 for convective atmospheres with T < 6500 K, in spite of some uncertainty in the reflection correction process.


1980 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 469-472
Author(s):  
W. Dziembowski

It has been known for a long time that white dwarfs are pulsationally unstable if nuclear burning takes place in their envelopes. Perturbation of energy generation rate promotes pulsational instability and this effect is frequently referred to as ε-mechanism. In recent years, with the advent of high-speed photometry, many rapidly varying white dwarfs have been discovered. However, periods of variability were found to be significantly longer than the periods of radial pulsations which were the only type of oscillations considered before the discovery. Furthermore, the case of ε-mechanism as being responsible for the observed variability has never been made strong for any of the observed objects.Variable white dwarfs are found among: Io single DA-type objects in the effective temperature range 10000-15000K; 2o members of close, usually but not always, cataclysmic binary systems. Although, following an early suggestion by Warner and Robinson (1972), the excitation of nonradial oscillation is postulated in both cases, the two types represent very different physical situations and they will be discussed here separately.


1983 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
pp. 143-148
Author(s):  
Jeffrey D. Colvin

ABSTRACTIt has been proposed that the Type I supernova (SNI) explosion starts in a white dwarf (WD) star that is accreting mass from a companion star in a close binary orbit. Others’ computations have described this explosion, but how an accreting WD can ever become an SNI if it first ejects the accreted envelope in one or more nova outbursts is still unresolved. My calculations of WD evolution include the effects of mass accretion, convective mixing, nuclear burning, and gravitational settling. These calculations test the Starrfield, Truran, and Sparks (1981) proposal that at low accretion rates, settling of the CNO nuclei will lead to steady-state hydrogen burning, not nova outburst. The preliminary results of this study, consisting of two evolutionary sequences of an initially cool pure 12C 1.0 Mʘ WD show that nearly half of the carbon near the base of the accreted layer, initially of solar composition, gravitationally diffuses out in 2 x 105 years.


2020 ◽  
Vol 499 (2) ◽  
pp. 2148-2156
Author(s):  
Y Cavecchi ◽  
D K Galloway ◽  
A J Goodwin ◽  
Z Johnston ◽  
A Heger

ABSTRACT We measured the thermonuclear burning efficiency as a function of accretion rate for the Type I X-ray bursts of five low-mass X-ray binary systems. We chose sources with measured neutron star spins and a substantial population of bursts from a large observational sample. The general trend for the burst rate is qualitatively the same for all sources; the burst rate first increases with the accretion rate up to a maximum, above which the burst rate declines, despite the increasing accretion rate. At higher accretion rates, when the burst rate decreases, the α-value (the ratio of accretion energy and burst energy) increases by up to a factor of 10 above that in the rising burst rate regime. These observations are contrary to the predictions of 1D numerical models, but can be explained as the consequence of a zone of stable burning on the neutron star surface, which expands with increasing accretion rate. The stable burning also ‘pollutes’ the unstable burning layer with ashes, contributing to the change in burst properties measured in the falling burst rate regime. We find that the mass accretion rate at which the burst rate begins to decrease is anticorrelated with the spin of the neutron star. We conclude that the neutron star spin is a key factor, moderating the nuclear burning stability, via the local accretion rate and fuel composition over the star.


1965 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 120-130
Author(s):  
T. S. Galkina

It is necessary to have quantitative estimates of the intensity of lines (both absorption and emission) to obtain the physical parameters of the atmosphere of components.Some years ago at the Crimean observatory we began the spectroscopic investigation of close binary systems of the early spectral type with components WR, Of, O, B to try and obtain more quantitative information from the study of the spectra of the components.


1979 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 77-88
Author(s):  
Edward L. Robinson

Three distinct kinds of rapid variations have been detected in the light curves of dwarf novae: rapid flickering, short period coherent oscillations, and quasi-periodic oscillations. The rapid flickering is seen in the light curves of most, if not all, dwarf novae, and is especially apparent during minimum light between eruptions. The flickering has a typical time scale of a few minutes or less and a typical amplitude of about .1 mag. The flickering is completely random and unpredictable; the power spectrum of flickering shows only a slow decrease from low to high frequencies. The observations of U Gem by Warner and Nather (1971) showed conclusively that most of the flickering is produced by variations in the luminosity of the bright spot near the outer edge of the accretion disk around the white dwarf in these close binary systems.


2018 ◽  
Vol 619 ◽  
pp. A138
Author(s):  
V. Perdelwitz ◽  
S. Czesla ◽  
J. Robrade ◽  
T. Pribulla ◽  
J. H. M. M. Schmitt

Context.Close binary systems provide an excellent tool for determining stellar parameters such as radii and masses with a high degree of precision. Due to the high rotational velocities, most of these systems exhibit strong signs of magnetic activity, postulated to be the underlying reason for radius inflation in many of the components. Aims.We extend the sample of low-mass binary systems with well-known X-ray properties. Methods.We analyze data from a singular XMM-Newton pointing of the close, low-mass eclipsing binary system BX Tri. The UV light curve was modeled with the eclipsing binary modeling tool PHOEBE and data acquired with the EPIC cameras was analyzed to search for hints of orbital modulation. Results.We find clear evidence of orbital modulation in the UV light curve and show that PHOEBE is fully capable of modeling data within this wavelength range. Comparison to a theoretical flux prediction based on PHOENIX models shows that the majority of UV emission is of photospheric origin. While the X-ray light curve does exhibit strong variations, the signal-to-noise ratio of the observation is insufficient for a clear detection of signs of orbital modulation. There is evidence of a Neupert-like correlation between UV and X-ray data.


1998 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 398-398
Author(s):  
Kenji Tanabe

Propagation of the surface waves of the lobe-filing components of close binary systems is investigated theoretically. Such waves are considered to be analogous to the gravity waves of water on the earth. As a result, the equations of the surface wave in the rotating frame of reference are reduced to the so-called Kortewegde Vries (KdV) equation and non-linear Schroedinger (NLS) equation according to its ”depth”. Each of these equations is known to have the solution of soliton. When this soliton is sent to the other component of the binary system through the Lagrangian point, it can give rise to the flare activity observed in some kinds of close binary systems.


2003 ◽  
Vol 208 ◽  
pp. 427-428
Author(s):  
D. Molteni ◽  
F. Fauci ◽  
G. Gerardi ◽  
M. A. Valenza

Results of 3D numerical simulations of the gas transfer in close binary systems show that it is possible the production of accretion streams having low specific angular momentum in a region close to the accreting star. These streams are mainly placed above the orbital disc. The eventual formation of such bulges and shock heated flows is interesting in the context of advection dominated solutions and for the explanation of spectral properties of the Black Hole candidates in binary systems. We set up a parallelized version of 3D S.P.H. code, using domain decomposion. with increasing spatial resolution around the compact star.


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