Mass Transfer Modulations in Interacting Binary Stars

在紧密相互作用的双星系统中，物质从一颗恒星转移到另一颗恒星的速度似乎非常不均匀。这些体系的演化在很大程度上取决于平均传质速率。因此，澄清这些调节的性质对于理解这些系统的起源和命运是很重要的。首席调查员(PI)过去曾得到美国国家科学基金会的支持，对印第安纳大学的16英寸望远镜进行现代化和自动化，以比过去更准确、更高效地进行恒星亮度(光度测量)的测量。PI现在计划使用该设备以及位于亚利桑那州弗拉格斯塔夫的美国海军天文台的40英寸望远镜，在三年的每个晴朗夜晚对来自三类相互作用双星的恒星样本进行协调观测：灾难性双星、矮新星和大卫二双星。要研究的过程发生在几天到几年的时间尺度上。这项研究包括检验新星演化的“冬眠理论”，确定“超极大”与矮新星的光曲线中其他特征的关系，以及寻找土卫六系统中的活动周期。

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.