Gravitational waves from rapidly rotating white dwarfs

Rapidly rotating white dwarfs in cataclysmic variable systems may be emitting gravitational radiation due to the recently discovered relativistic r-mode instability. Assuming that the four most rapidly rotating known systems are limited in rotation rate by the instability, the amplitude of the emitted gravitational waves is determined at Earth for both known rapid rotators and for a model background caused by a galactic population of such systems. The proposed LISA and OMEGA space-based interferometer gravitational wave detectors could observe such signals and determine whether the r-mode instability plays a significant role in white dwarf systems.