Related papers: Accretion Disks: Limit Cycles and Instabilities
We review our current knowledge of thermal and viscous instabilities in accretion discs around compact objects. We begin with classical disc models based on analytic viscosity prescriptions, discussing physical uncertainties and exploring…
Accretion disk outbursts, and their subsequent decline, offer a unique opportunity to constrain the physics of angular momentum transport in hot accretion disks. Recent work has centered on the claim by Cannizzo et al. that the exponential…
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…
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…
The status of our current understanding of angular momentum transport in accretion disks is reviewed. The last decade has seen a dramatic increase both in the recognition of key physical processes and in our ability to carry through direct…
In a standard, steady, thin accretion disc, the radial distribution of the dissipation of the accretion energy is determined simply by energy considerations. Here we draw attention to the fact that while the (quasi-)steady discs in dwarf…
We present a model for the dwarf nova WZ Sge which does not require assuming unusually and unexplained low values of the viscosity alpha-parameter during exceptionally long quiescent states of this system. We propose that the inner parts of…
We consider vertical heat transport in Keplerian accretion disks, including the effects of radiation, convection, and turbulent mixing driven by the Balbus-Hawley instability, in astronomical systems ranging from dwarf novae (DNe), and soft…
Analogous to the HR diagram for stars, the thermal equilibrium curve encodes the thermodynamics of accretion disks by expressing the local balance between heating -- primarily via viscous dissipation -- and cooling -- typically through…
Using the disc instability model for dwarf novae and soft X-ray transients, we investigate the stability of accretion discs in long-period binary systems. We simulate outbursts due to this thermal-viscous instability for two symbiotic…
In low-mass disks, turbulent torques are probably the most important way of redistributing angular momentum. Here we present the theory of turbulent accretion disks. We show the molecular viscosity is far too small to account for the…
We explore the consequences of a magnetic dynamo origin for the viscosity in accretion discs, for the structure and evolution of discs in dwarf nova systems. We propose that the rapid cooling that sets in at the end of a dwarf nova eruption…
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…
We show that dwarf nova disks in quiescence have rather low magnetic Reynolds number, of order 10^3. Numerical simulations of magnetized accretion disks suggest that under these conditions magnetohydrodynamic turbulence and the associated…
We present the results of local, vertically stratified, radiation MHD shearing box simulations of MRI turbulence appropriate for the hydrogen ionizing regime of dwarf nova and soft X-ray transient outbursts. We incorporate the…
Previous theoretical studies have found that repeating outbursts can occur in certain regions of an accretion disk, due to sudden transitions in time from gravitationally produced turbulence to magnetically produced turbulence. We analyze…
The disc instability model which is supposed to describe outbursts of dwarf nova and low-mass X-ray binary transient systems is presented and reviewed in detail. Various deficiencies of the model are pointed out and various remedies and…
Dwarf novae (DNe) are accreting white dwarfs that show eruptions due to a thermal-viscous instability in the accretion disk. The outburst timescales constrain $\alpha$, the ratio of the viscous stress to the thermal pressure, and so the…
We show that if the dwarf-nova disc instability model includes the effects of heating by stream impact and tidal torque dissipation in the outer disc, the calculated properties of dwarf-nova outbursts change considerably, and several…
We propose a simple explanation for the constant mean brightness observed between outbursts in dwarf novae. Secular changes in the total energy dissipation rate of the accretion disc brought about by variations in surface density,…