Related papers: Evidence for reduced magnetic braking in polars fr…
We resume the discussion about irradiation-driven mass transfer cycles in semi- detached compact binary systems. The analytical model that describes the onset of these cycles, which occur on a thermal timescale of the donor star, is…
We have obtained HST/STIS data for a total of eleven polars as part of a program aimed to compile a homogeneous database of high-quality far-ultraviolet (FUV) spectra for a large number of cataclysmic variables (CVs). Of the eleven polars,…
Cataclysmic variable (CVs) are close interacting binaries in which a white dwarf accretes materials from a low mass main sequence companion. CVs can experience nova eruptions due to low mass transfer rates. In the standard theory of CV…
We reconstruct the evolutionary path followed by cataclysmic variables (CVs) from the observed mass-radius relationship of their donor stars. Along the way, we update the semi-empirical CV donor sequence of Knigge (2006) and present a…
We present measurements of the component masses in 15 Cataclysmic Variables (CVs) - 6 new estimates and 9 improved estimates. We provide new calibrations of the relationship between superhump period excess and mass ratio, and use this…
Understanding the origin of the magnetic fields in white dwarfs (WDs) has been a puzzle for decades. A scenario that has gained considerable attention in the past years assumes that such magnetic fields are generated through a dynamo…
Classical Novae (CNe) are the brightest manifestation of mass transfer onto a white dwarf in a cataclysmic variable (CV). As such, they are probes of the mass transfer rate, Mdot, and WD mass, Mwd, in these interacting binaries. Our…
Magnetic cataclysmic variables are close binaries which consist of a compact object - a white dwarf - and a red dwarf filling its Roche Lobe. Such systems are physical laboratories which enable study of the influence of magnetic fields on…
In this paper, which is the first in a series of papers associated with cataclysmic variables and related objects, we introduce the CATUABA code, a numerical machinery written for analysis of the MOCCA simulations, and show some first…
We apply the angular momentum loss rates inferred from open cluster stars to the evolution of cataclysmic variables (CVs). We show that the angular momentum prescriptions used in earlier CV studies are inconsistent with the measured…
Motivated by the discovery of a handful of pulsating, extremely low mass white dwarfs (ELM WDs, mass $M \lesssim 0.17\, M_\odot$) which likely have WD companions, this paper discusses binary formation models for these systems. Formation of…
Magnitude-limited samples have shown that 20-25 per cent of cataclysmic variables contain white dwarfs with magnetic fields of Mega Gauss strength, in stark contrast to the approximately 5 per cent of single white dwarfs with similar…
(Abridged) We present high-speed, three-colour photometry of seven short period (Porb <= 95 mins) eclipsing CVs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We determine the system parameters via a parametrized model of the eclipse fitted to the…
In a series of recent papers, it has been proposed that high field magnetic white dwarfs are the result of close binary interaction and merging. Population synthesis calculations have shown that the origin of isolated highly magnetic white…
Polars and low-accretion rate polars (LARPs) are strongly magnetic cataclysmic variables. Mediated by the magnetic field of the white dwarf, their spin and binary orbit are (mostly) synchronized. They play an important role in our…
The subclass of magnetic Cataclysmic Variables (CV), known as asynchronous polars, are still relatively poorly understood. An asynchronous polar is a polar in which the spin period of the white dwarf is either shorter or longer than the…
We present the latest catalog of more than 1200 spectroscopically-selected close binary systems observed with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey through Data Release Five. We use the catalog to search for magnetic white dwarfs in cataclysmic…
Our recent theoretical work (Townsley and Bildsten 2002) on the thermal state of white dwarfs (WDs) in low mass transfer rate binaries allows us to predict the broadband colors of the binary from those of the WD and companion when the disk…
Magnetic braking (MB) mechanism plays a vital role throughout the evolution of low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). Considering the standard MB prescription, the initial orbital periods of LMXBs that can evolve into binary millisecond pulsar…
White dwarfs (WDs) are powerful tools to study the evolutionary history of stars and binaries in the Galaxy. But do we understand their multiplicity from a theoretical point of view? This can be tested by a comparison with the sample of WDs…