Related papers: An accurate geometric distance to the compact bina…
The nature of the accreting companion to Mira --- the prototypical pulsating asymptotic giant branch star --- has been a matter of debate for more than 25 years. Here we use a quantitative analysis of the rapid optical brightness variations…
We present a grid of models of accreting brown dwarf systems with circumstellar discs. The calculations involve a self-consistent solution of both vertical hydrostatic and radiative equilibrium along with a sophisticated treatment of dust…
We present an analysis of HST STIS data of VW Hyi acquired ~ 14 days after a superoutburst. At the time of the observation the system appears to be going into outburst with the longest wavelengths increasing in flux by a factor of 5, while…
Nova outbursts are the result of strong thermonuclear runaways on the surface of a white dwarf accreting Hydrogen-rich material from a small mass companion. These giant explosions cause the star to increase its brightness by hundreds of…
Accreting white dwarfs are often found in close binary systems with orbital periods ranging from tens of minutes to several hours. In most cases, the accretion process is relatively steady, with significant modulations only occurring on…
We report on the detection of the linear rms-flux relation in two accreting white dwarf binary systems: V1504 Cyg and KIC 8751494. The rms-flux relation relates the absolute root-mean-square (rms) variability of the light curve to its mean…
Properties of the quasi-coherent oscillations in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) flux of the dwarf nova SS Cygni are described, with emphasis on (1) the scaling between the period of the oscillation and the EUV flux and (2) the mean power…
A non negligible fraction of white dwarf stars show the presence of heavy elements in their atmospheres. The most accepted explanation for this contamination is the accretion of material coming from tidally disrupted planetesimals, which…
The polluted white dwarf (WD) system SDSS J122859.93+104032.9 (SDSS J1228) shows variable emission features interpreted as originating from a solid core fragment held together against tidal forces by its own internal strength, orbiting…
Direct imaging searches have revealed many very low-mass objects, including a small number of planetary mass objects, as wide-orbit companions to young stars. The formation mechanism of these objects remains uncertain. In this paper we…
I review the observational evidence for spiral structure in the accretion discs of cataclysmic variables (CVs). Doppler tomography is ideally suited to resolve and map such co-rotating patterns and allows a straightforward comparison with…
Collimated outflows from accreting white dwarfs have an important role to play in the study of astrophysical jets. Observationally, collimated outflows are associated with systems in which material is accreted though a disk. Theoretically,…
The study of outer disc radius variations in close binary systems is important for understanding the structure and evolution of accretion discs. These variations are predicted by models of both quasi steady and time-dependent discs, and…
Multicycle nova evolution models have been calculated over the past twenty years, the number being limited by numerical constraints. Here we present a long-term evolution code that enables a continuous calculation through an unlimited…
Millisecond pulsars with white dwarf companions have typical eccentricities $e\sim 10^{-6}-10^{-3}$. The eccentricities of helium white dwarfs are explained well by applying the fluctuation-dissipation theorem to convective eddies in their…
X-ray spectra of dwarf novae in quiescence observed by Chandra and XMM-Newton provide new information on the boundary layers of their accreting white dwarfs. Comparison of observations and models allows us to extract estimates for the…
We obtained time-resolved optical photometry and spectroscopy of the nova-like variable KR Aurigae in the low state. The spectrum reveals a DAB white dwarf and a mid-M dwarf companion. Using the companion star's $i$-band ellipsoidal…
RU Peg is a dwarf nova (DN) of the U Gem type. Our analysis of its long-term optical activity uses the data from the AAVSO database. It concentrates on investigating the properties of the individual outbursts and the time evolution of the…
We present fully general-relativistic three-dimensional numerical simulations of accretion-induced collapse (AIC) of white dwarfs (WDs). We evolve three different WD models (nonrotating, rotating at 80% and 99% of the Keplerian mass…
White dwarfs (WDs) are the final fate of about 97\% of the stars in our galaxy, making them vital tracers of stellar history. A fraction of WDs exist in cataclysmic variable (CV) systems, accreting matter from a nearby companion star. A…