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Mechanisms for Dwarf Nova Outbursts and Soft X-ray Transients: A Critical Review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2016

J.P. Lasota*
Affiliation:
UPR 176 du CNRS; DARC, Observatoire de Paris, Section de Meudon, 92190 Meudon Cedex, France

Abstract

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I review models that try to explain dwarf nova outbursts and soft X-ray transients. The disc instability model for dwarf novae is still in a preliminary state of development: its predictions depend very strongly on the unknown viscosity mechanism. It is also doubtful that a pure disc instability phenomenon will be able to describe all types of dwarf nova outbursts, in particular superoutbursts. The disc instability model for SXTs suffers from the same difficulties but in addition its predictions are contradicted by observations of transient sources in quiescence. The mass transfer model, incorporating illumination of the secondary, cannot describe correctly the time scales of SXT events for main-sequence secondaries with masses less than 1 M. The existence of at least three systems with Porb < 10 hr seems to rule it out as an explanation of the SXT phenomenon.

Type
1 Binary Evolution
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1996 

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