Discovery of Persistent Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in Accreting White Dwarfs: A New Link to X-ray Binaries
arXiv:2410.01896 · doi:10.1093/mnras/stae2279
Abstract
Almost all accreting black hole and neutron star X-ray binary systems (XRBs) exhibit prominent brightness variations on a few characteristic time-scales and their harmonics. These quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) are thought to be associated with the precession of a warped accretion disc, but the physical mechanism that generates the precessing warp remains uncertain. Relativistic frame dragging (Lense-Thirring precession) is one promising candidate, but a misaligned magnetic field is an alternative, especially for neutron star XRBs. Here, we report the discovery of 5 accreting white dwarf systems (AWDs) that display strong optical QPOs with characteristic frequencies and harmonic structures that suggest they are the counterpart of the QPOs seen in XRBs. Since AWDs are firmly in the classical (non-relativistic) regime, Lense-Thirring precession cannot account for these QPOs. By contrast, a weak magnetic field associated with the white dwarf can drive disc warping and precession in these systems, similar to what has been proposed for neutron star XRBs. Our observations confirm that magnetically driven warping is a viable mechanism for generating QPOs in disc-accreting astrophysical systems, certainly in AWDs and possibly also in (neutron star) XRBs. Additionally, they establish a new way to estimate magnetic field strengths, even in relatively weak-field systems where other methods are not available.
arXiv comment16 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS
References in corpus (41)
- The Man Behind the Curtain: X-rays Drive the UV through NIR Variability in the 2013 AGN Outburst in NGC 2617
- The All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN) Light Curve Server v1.0
- Lense-Thirring Precession and QPOs in Low Mass X-Ray Binaries
- A Unified Description of the Timing Features of Accreting X-ray Binaries
- Low frequency QPO spectra and Lense-Thirring precession
- Correlations in the QPO Frequencies of Low Mass X-Ray Binaries and the Relativistic Precession Model
- The ABC of low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations in Black-Hole Candidates: analogies with Z-sources
- Bayesian Blocks, A New Method to Analyze Structure in Photon Counting Data
- A review of quasi-periodic oscillations from black hole X-ray binaries: observation and theory
- The broad-band power spectra of X-ray binaries
- Post-common-envelope binaries from SDSS. XI: The white dwarf mass distributions of CVs and pre-CVs
- A physical model for the continuum variability and QPO in accreting black holes
- Transient Black Hole Binaries
- The spin periods and magnetic moments of white dwarfs in magnetic cataclysmic variables
- Theoretical Modeling of the Thermal State of Accreting White Dwarfs Undergoing Classical Novae
- Magnetically Driven Warping, Precession and Resonances in Accretion Disks
- HS2331+3905: The cataclysmic variable that has it all
- Rapid Oscillations in Cataclysmic Variables
- Dwarf Nova Oscillations and Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in Cataclysmic Variables: II. A Low Inertia Magnetic Accretor Model
- The Accretion Flows and Evolution of Magnetic Cataclysmic Variables
- Bardeen-Petterson Effect and Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in X-Ray Binaries
- Dwarf Nova Oscillations and Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in Cataclysmic Variables: III. A New Kind of Dwarf Nova Oscillation, and Further Examples of the Similarities to X-Ray Binaries
- The viscosity parameter alpha and the properties of accretion disc outbursts in close binaries
- The Dwarf Novae of Shortest Period
- A physical model for the flickering variability in cataclysmic variables
- SPH Simulations of Negative (Nodal) Superhumps: A Parametric Study
- Warping and Precession of Accretion Disks Around Magnetic Stars: Nonlinear Evolution
- Broad-band timing properties of the accreting white dwarf MV Lyrae
- Magnetically Driven Precession of Warped Disks and Milli-Hertz Variabilities in Accreting X-Ray Pulsars
- Localised thermonuclear bursts from accreting magnetic white dwarfs
- TESS light curves of cataclysmic variables I -- Unknown periods in long-known stars
- Phase resolved spectroscopy and Kepler photometry of the ultracompact AM CVn binary SDSS J190817.07+394036.4
- HST and Optical Data Reveal White Dwarf Cooling, Spin and Periodicities in GW Librae 3-4 Years after Outburst
- Quasi-periodic oscillations in the TESS light curve of TX Col, a diskless intermediate polar on the precipice of forming an accretion disk
- XMM-Newton Observations of the Cataclysmic Variable GW Lib
- Modelling rebrightenings, reflares, and echoes in dwarf nova outbursts
- The Long-Term Secular Mass Accretion Rate of the Recurrent Nova T Pyxidis
- The Peculiar Bursting Nature of CP Pup
- NGTS and HST insights into the long period modulation in GW Librae
- Periodicities in the K2 lightcurve of HP Librae
- Outer disc edge: properties of low frequency aperiodic variability in ultracompact interacting binaries