Evolution and Outbursts of Cataclysmic Variables

Authors

  • S.-B. Qian Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Science, P. O. Box 110, 650011 Kunming, China Key Laboratory for the Structure and Evolution of Celestial Objects, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 650011 Kunming, China University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yuquan Road 19#, Sijingshang Block, 100049 Beijing, China
  • L.-Y. Zhu Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Science, P. O. Box 110, 650011 Kunming, China Key Laboratory for the Structure and Evolution of Celestial Objects, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 650011 Kunming, China University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yuquan Road 19#, Sijingshang Block, 100049 Beijing, China
  • E.-G. Zhao Facultad de Ciencias Astronomicas y Geofısicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, 1900 La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina Instituto de Astrofisica de La Plata (CCT La plata - CONICET/UNLP), Argentina
  • E. Fernández Lajús
  • J. Zhang Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Science, P. O. Box 110, 650011 Kunming, China Key Laboratory for the Structure and Evolution of Celestial Objects, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 650011 Kunming, China
  • G. Shi Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Science, P. O. Box 110, 650011 Kunming, China Key Laboratory for the Structure and Evolution of Celestial Objects, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 650011 Kunming, China
  • Z.-T. Han Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Science, P. O. Box 110, 650011 Kunming, China Key Laboratory for the Structure and Evolution of Celestial Objects, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 650011 Kunming, China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14311/APP.2015.02.0152

Abstract

Mass transfer and accretion are very important to understand the evolution and observational properties of cataclysmic variables (CVs). Due to the lack of an accretion disk, eclipsing profiles of polars are the best source to study the character of mass transfer in CVs. By analyzing long-term photometric variations in the eclipsing polar HU Aqr, the property of mass transfer and accretion are investigated. The correlation between the brightness state change and the variation of the ingress profile suggests that both the accretion hot spot and the accretion stream are produced instantaneously. The observations clearly show that it is the variation of mass transfer causing the brightness state changes that is a direct evidence of variable mass transfer in a CV. It is shown that it is the local dark-spot activity near the L1 point to cause the change of the mass transfer rather than the activity cycles of the cool secondary star. Our results suggest that the evolution of CVs is more complex than that predicted by the standard model and we should consider the effect of variable mass accretion in nova and dwarf nova outbursts.

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Published

2015-02-23

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 1 (2015): THE GOLDEN AGE OF CATACLYSMIC VARIABLES AND RELATED OBJECTS - II

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