744 research outputs found
The viscosity parameter alpha and the properties of accretion disc outbursts in close binaries
The physical mechanisms driving angular momentum transport in accretion discs
are still unknown. Although it is generally accepted that, in hot discs, the
turbulence triggered by the magneto-rotational instability is at the origin of
the accretion process in Keplerian discs, it has been found that the values of
the stress-to-pressure ratio (the alpha "viscosity" parameter) deduced from
observations of outbursting discs are an order of magnitude higher than those
obtained in numerical simulations. We test the conclusion about the
observation-deduced value of alpha using a new set of data and comparing the
results with model outbursts. We analyse a set of observations of dwarf-nova
and AM CVn star outbursts and from the measured decay times determine the
hot-disc viscosity parameter alpha_h. We determine if and how this method is
model dependent. From the dwarf-nova disc instability model we determine an
amplitude vs recurrence-time relation and compare it to the empirical
Kukarkin-Parenago relation between the same, but observed, quantities. We found
that all methods we tried, including the one based on the amplitude vs
recurrence-time relation, imply alpha_h ~ 0.1 - 0.2 and exclude values an order
of magnitude lower. The serious discrepancy between the observed and the
MRI-calculated values of the accretion disc viscosity parameter alpha is
therefore real since there can be no doubt about the validity of the values
deduced from observations of disc outbursts.Comment: Astronomy and Astrophysics, in press. (In Fig. 3b the upper sequence
of numbers and symbols is an artefact of the compilation on astro-ph) and
should be ignored.
Hydrodynamic simulations of irradiated secondaries in dwarf novae
We investigate numerically the surface flow on the secondary star during
outbursts. We use a simple model for the irradiation and the geometry of the
secondary star: the irradiation temperature is treated as a free parameter and
the secondary is replaced by a spherical star with a space-dependent Coriolis
force that mimics the effect of the Roche geometry. The Euler equations are
solved in spherical coordinates with the TVD-MacCormack scheme. We show that
the Coriolis force leads to the formation of a circulation flow from high
latitude region to the close vicinity of the point. However no heat can
be efficiently transported to the region due to the rapid radiative
cooling of the hot material as it enters the equatorial belt shadowed from
irradiation. Under the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium, the Coriolis
force could lead to a moderate increase of the mass transfer rate by pushing
the gas in the vertical direction at the point, but only during the
initial phases of the outburst (about 15 -- 20 orbital periods). We conclude
that the Coriolis force does not prevent a flow from the heated regions of the
secondary towards the region, at least during the initial phase of an
outburst, but the resulting increase of the mass transfer rate is moderate, and
it is unlikely to be able to account for the duration of long outbursts.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Models of AM CVn star outbursts
Outbursting AM CVn stars exhibit outbursts similar to those observed in
different types of dwarf novae. Their light-curves combine the characteristic
features of SU UMa, ER UMa, Z Cam, and WZ Sge-type systems but also show a
variety of properties never observed in dwarf novae. The compactness of AM CVn
orbits and their unusual chemical composition make these systems valuable
testbeds for outburst models. We aim for a better understanding of the role of
helium in the accretion disc instability mechanism, testing the model for dwarf
novae outbursts in the case of AM CVn stars, and aim to explain the outburst
light-curves of these ultra-compact binaries. We calculated the properties of
the hydrogen-free AM CVn stars using our previously developed numerical code
adapted to the different chemical composition of these systems and supplemented
with formulae accounting for mass transfer rate variations, additional sources
of the disc heating, and the primary's magnetic field. We discovered how
helium-dominated discs react to the thermal-viscous instability and were able
to reproduce various features of the outburst cycles in the light-curves of AM
CVn stars. The AM CVn outbursts can be explained by the suitably adapted
dwarf-nova disc instability model but, as in the case of its application to
hydrogen-dominated cataclysmic variables, one has to resort to additional
mechanisms to account for the observed superoutbursts, dips, cycling states,
and standstills. We show that the enhanced mass-transfer rate, due presumably
to variable irradiation of the secondary, must not only be taken into account
but is a determining factor that shapes AM CVn star outbursts. The cause of the
variable secondary's irradiation has yet to be understood; the best candidate
is the precession of a tilted/warped disc.Comment: Astronomy and Astrophysics - in press; corrected (language) versio
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