Related papers: Disc radius variations in binaries
The phenomenological Disc Instability Model has been successful in reproducing the observed light curves of dwarf nova outbursts by invoking an enhanced Shakura-Sunyaev $\alpha$ parameter $\sim0.1-0.2$ in outburst compared to a low value…
I briefly review the theory of soft X-ray transient systems. Irradiation of the accretion disc faces by the central X-ray source determines both the occurrence and the nature of the outbursts, in particular forcing these to be long viscous…
The disc instability model (DIM) has been very successful in explaining the dwarf nova outbursts observed in cataclysmic variables. When, as in intermediate polars (IP), the accreting white dwarf is magnetized, the disc is truncated at the…
We describe how the various outcomes of stellar tidal disruption give rise to observable radiation. We separately consider the cases where gas circularizes rapidly into an accretion disc, as well as the case when shocked debris streams…
We include the tidal instability due to the 3:1 resonance in the disc instability model developed by Hameury et al. (1998) and modified by Buat-Menard et al. (2001). We confirm earlier results by Osaki (1989) that the tidal instability can…
The arising of turbulence in gas-dynamic (non-magnetic) accretion disks is a major issue of modern astrophysics. Such accretion disks should be stable against the turbulence generation, in contradiction to observations. Searching for…
I review the basics of the disc instability model (DIM) for dwarf novae and soft-X-ray transients and its most recent developments, as well as the current limitations of the model, focusing on the dwarf nova case. Although the DIM uses the…
Dwarf novae (DNe) and low mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) show eruptions that are thought to be due to a thermal-viscous instability in their accretion disk. These eruptions provide constraints on angular momentum transport mechanisms. We…
We study the stability of disc accretion in the recurrent nova RS Ophiuchi. We construct a one-dimensional time-dependent model of the binary-disc system, which includes viscous heating and radiative cooling and a self-consistent treatment…
We show that accretion disks in several compact X-ray binaries with hydrogen-depleted donors are likely subject to a thermal ionization instability, unless they are strongly irradiated. These disks are particularly interesting in that their…
We discuss two important instability mechanisms that may lead to the limit-cycle oscillations of the luminosity of the accretion disks around compact objects: ionization instability and radiation-pressure instability. Ionization instability…
The eruptive cycles of dwarf novae (DN) are thought to be due to a thermal-viscous instability in the accretion disk surrounding the white dwarf (WD). This model has long been known to imply a stress to pressure ratio \alpha ~0.1 in…
We present a new scenario for the behaviour of Be/X-ray binaries based on long-term multiwavelength monitoring and the decretion disc model. The circumstellar discs of the primaries are truncated because of the tidal and resonant effect of…
The existing disk instability model for dwarf nova eruptions is reviewed, in the light of recent progress in the understanding of angular momentum transport in accretion disks. It is proposed that the standard lower branch in the…
The origin of turbulence in accretion discs is still not fully understood. While the magneto-rotational instability is considered to operate in sufficiently ionized discs, its role in the poorly ionized protoplanetary disc is questionable.…
I review several problems which arise when one tries to apply the standard dwarf nova instability model to outbursts of soft X-ray transients.
Diversity of the X-ray observations of dwarf nova are still not fully understood. I review the X-ray spectral characteristics of dwarf novae during the quiescence in general explained by cooling flow models and the outburst spectra that…
An instability can potentially operate in highly irradiated disks where the disk sharply transitions from being radially transparent to opaque (the 'transition region'). Such conditions may exist at the inner edges of transitional disks…
Context. The disc instability model (DIM) successfully explains why many accreting compact binary systems exhibit outbursts, during which their luminosity increases by orders of magnitude. The DIM correctly predicts which systems should be…
Dwarf nova outbursts result from enhanced mass transport through the accretion disc of a cataclysmic variable system. We assess the question of whether these outbursts are caused by an enhanced mass transfer from the late-type main sequence…