The outburst properties of AM CVn stars

✍ Scribed by I. Kotko; J.-P. Lasota; G. Dubus

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 132 KB
• Volume: 331
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-6337
• DOI: 10.1002/asna.200911333

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

We briefly summarise the observational properties of ultra‐compact binaries called AM CVn stars. We analyse their outbursts originating from the thermal‐viscous instability in helium accretion disc. We present our preliminary results in applying the model of Dwarf Novae outbursts to helium discs. We can calculate models of outbursts of reasonable amplitude of 2 mag with a constant α parameter throughout the calculation. Setting the mass transfer rate close to its upper critical value produces model lightcurves that resemble short superoutbursts (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)