Mass Transfer Modulations in Interacting Binary Stars

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The transfer of material from one star to another in close "interacting binary" star systems appears to proceed at a highly uneven pace. The evolution of these systems depends sensitively on the average mass transfer rate. Therefore a clarification of the nature of these modulations is important to an understanding of both the origin and fate of these systems. The Principal Investigator (PI) has received NSF support in the past to modernize and automate the 16-inch telescope at Indiana University to conduct measures of star brightnesses (photometry) more accurately and efficiently than in the past. The PI now plans to use this equipment as well as a 40-inch telescope at U.S. Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona to conduct coordinated observations every available clear night for three years of a sample of stars from three classes of interacting binaries: cataclysmic binaries, dwarf novae, and "Algol" binaries. The processes to be studied occur over timescales of days to years. The research includes tests of the "hibernation theory" of nova evolution, the determination of the relationship of the "supermaxima" to other features in the light curves of dwarf novae, and the search for activity cycles in Algol systems.