Simulating the boundary layer between a white dwarf and its accretion disc

Abstract

We describe the results of numerical simulations of the dynamics of the boundary layer (BL) between the accretion disk and the surface of a non-magnetic white dwarf (WD) for different viscosities which corresponds to different stages for dwarf novae burst cycles. The simulations cover the inner part of the accretion disk, the BL, and the upper atmosphere of the star. The high viscosity case, which corresponds to a dwarf nova in outburst, shows a optically thick BL which after one Keplerian rotation period (t_K=19s) extends more than 30 degrees to either side of the disk plane. The BL is optically thick and thus occludes part of the star. The low viscosity case, which corresponds to a dwarf nova in quiescense, also shows a BL, but it is optically thin.

8 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophys. J. Letters

References in corpus (3)

• Second Order Accurate Schemes for Magnetohydrodynamics With Divergence-Free Reconstruction
• On Heavy Element Enrichment in Classical Novae
• Spreading of Accreted Material on White Dwarfs

Cited by in corpus (10)

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• FUSE Spectroscopy of the White Dwarf in U Geminorum
• Simulations of the Boundary Layer Between a White Dwarf and its Accretion Disk
• The Boundary Layer in compact binaries
• Spreading layers in accreting objects: role of acoustic waves for angular momentum transport, mixing and thermodynamics
• Discovery of Drifting High-frequency QPOs in Global Simulations of Magnetic Boundary Layers
• Modeling the EUV spectra of optically thick boundary layers of dwarf novae in outburst
• The vertical structure of the boundary layer around compact objects
• The accretion and spreading of matter on white dwarfs
• Oscillations of the Boundary Layer and High-frequency QPOs