[Aavso-photometry] Book on CV

[Gordon Sarty]

> Hi,
> 
> Can someone recommend a book on CV's?. I observe these stars
> regularly, and I am curious to know more about the Physics that
> is involved in them, the different types of CV's, the proposed models,
> etc... I have been googling around, but I would like to have a book
> which collects the basics explained with some detail.
> 
> The kind of questions I would like to see discussed are things like: what
> causes superhumps (versus normal humps?),

superhumps: the accretion disk gets so big it approaches the Roche lobe, 
becomes elliptical and starts to precess slowly against the orbit.

  is the mass transfer
> constant in time?, if not: why not?,

current dogma: constant from the red dwarf, higher at the outer edge of 
the disk than the inner edge (at white dwarf) in quiessence, reverse is 
true in outburst

  is it related to oscillations of the
> red dwarf?,

no

  what causes the outbursts?,

when the disk density accumulates enough mass it becomes opaque (more 
ionized plasma than gas - a phase change) and heats up, mass drains to 
the white dwarf, then it cools down as it becomes transparent again 
(more gas than plasma)

  is the cause of the outburst
> always the same or does it depend on the class of CV?,

for non-magnetic CVs, always the same

  what are the
> differences between outbursts and superoutbursts?,

disks are smaller and rounder for regular outbursts - outbursts are not 
as bright (less mass in disk)

  are dwarf novae,

disk cycling as above

> recurrent novae, classical novae

these are the same (thermonuclear detonation of accumulated hydrogen on 
the surface of the white dwarf) - difference is frequency of explosions, 
recurrent nova about every 50yrs, others every 500-1000 yrs; recurrent 
nova have giant stars instead of red dwarfs with a higher mass flow 
rate.  All CVs go nova periodically - each CV will experience millions 
of novae in it's lifetime (do the math - red dwarfs last for billions 
and billions of years...)

  and supernovae of type I physically
> different,

way different: core collapse into neutron star or black hole. Twist: 
recurrent nova are believed to lead to type II supernova because not all 
the hydrogen is blown off in each nova, so it accumulates. Type II 
supernova: white dwarf is completely consumed in a thermonuclear 
explosion when the mass passes Chandrasekar's limit of ~1.4 solar masses.

  or are they the same, but only differ in the time scale and
> amplitude of the outbursts?, etc...
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> -Tomas L. Gomez (GOT)
> 
> 

> Hi Tomas,
> 
> Try 
> Cataclysmic Variable Stars - How and Why they Vary by Coel Hellier.  A
> Springer Praxis publication.  
> 
> Cheers
> Peter

The bible, of course, is Cataclysmic Variable Stars by Brian Warner 
(Cambridge). It has more math/physics. I read Hellier's book first, then 
Warner's.