Short-period cataclysmic variables at Observatorio Astronomico Nacional IA UNAM.

Year, pages: 2014, 294 - 299

We present results of time-resolved spectroscopy and photometry of faint (∼17-19 mag) Cataclysmic Variable stars with periods around the minimum orbital period (∼80 min). In this work we concentrated to our results of study of CVs systems which have evolved beyond the period minimum (so-called bounce-back systems). Using various instruments attached to 2.1m, 1.5m and 0.84m telescopes of OAN SPM of IA UNAM we explored conditions and structure of accretion disks in those short-period Cataclysmic Variables. We showed that the accretion disk in a system with an extremely low mass ratio (≤0.05) grows in the size reaching 2:1 resonance radius and is relatively cool. The disk in such systems also becomes largely optically thin in the continuum, contributing to the total flux less than the stellar components of the system. In contrast, the viscosity and the temperature in spiral arms formed at the outer edge of the disk are higher and their contribution in continuum plays an increasingly important role. We model such disks and generate light curves which successfully simulate the observed double-humped light curves in the quiescence. Thanks to support of our programs by the Time Allocation Commission of OAN SPM, the perfect astroclimate in the observatory, and the phase-locked method of spectroscopic observations, the significant progress in the study of bounce-back systems using a small size telescope was reached.

Zharikov, S. 2014. Short-period cataclysmic variables at Observatorio Astronomico Nacional IA UNAM.. In Contributions of the Astronomical Observatory Skalnaté Pleso, vol. 43, no.3, pp. 294-299. 1335-1842.

Zharikov, S. (2014). Short-period cataclysmic variables at Observatorio Astronomico Nacional IA UNAM.. Contributions of the Astronomical Observatory Skalnaté Pleso, 43(3), 294-299. 1335-1842.