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Disc–magnetosphere interactions in cataclysmic variable stars
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 May 2007
Abstract
I review, from an observational perspective, the interactions of accretion discs with magnetic fields in cataclysmic variable stars. I start with systems where the accretion flows via a stream, and discuss the circumstances in which the stream forms into an accretion disc, pointing to stars which are close to this transition. I then turn to disc-fed systems and discuss what we know about how material threads on to field lines, as deduced from the pattern of accretion footprints on the white dwarf. I discuss whether distortions of the field lines are related to accretion torques and the changing spin periods of the white dwarfs. I also review the effect on the disc–magnetosphere interaction of disc-instability outbursts. Lastly, I discuss the temporary, dynamo-driven magnetospheres thought to occur in dwarf-nova outbursts, and whether slow-moving waves are excited at the inner edges of the disc.
Keywords
- Type
- Contributed Papers
- Information
- Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 3 , Symposium S243: Star-Disk Interaction in Young Stars , May 2007 , pp. 325 - 336
- Copyright
- Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2007
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