Simulations of spiral structure in the accretion disc of IP Pegasi during outburst

Abstract

We consider the implications of the detection of spiral structure in the accretion disc of the binary IP Pegasi. We use numerical simulations of the development of a disc outburst to construct predicted Doppler tomograms, which are found to be in close agreement with the observations if the spiral pattern arises as a transient feature when the disc expands viscously at the start of the outburst. The good agreement of such viscous disc simulations with the data is consistent with models in which most of the angular momentum transport in the disc originates in internal stresses rather than globally excited waves or shocks. Future detailed observations of the development of transient spiral features offer the potential to measure the dependence of the disc viscosity on the local physical conditions in the disc.

6 pages, MNRAS in press. Color figures at http://www.cita.utoronto.ca/~armitage/IP_Peg.html

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• Eclipse maps of spiral shocks in the accretion disc of IP Pegasi in outburst
• Spectral mapping of the spiral structures in IP Pegasi on the decline from an outburst
• The Outbursts of Dwarf Novae
• The effects of tidally induced disc structure on white dwarf accretion in intermediate polars
• A spiral structure in the disk of EX Draconis on the rise to outburst maximum
• A systematic study of spiral density waves in the accretion discs of Cataclysmic Variables