Long-Term Changes in Cataclysmic Variable Stars

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95-28169 Honeycutt, R. Kent Dr. Honeycutt's objective is to understand some of the known and newly-discovered changes that occur in cataclysmic variable stars (CVs) on time scales of weeks to years. CVs emit most of their light from an accretion disk surrounding the white dwarf. Accretion disks occur in a wide range of astronomical situations, including proto-planetary systems, quasars, and stellar black hole candidates as well as x-ray sources containing neutron stars. The unusual long-term changes in the brightness and in the spectrum of CVs are likely to be due to accretion disk instabilities and/or the accretion process itself. Other changes may be due to stellar activity cycles on the mass-losing component of the binary system, analogous to the solar sunspot cycle. ***