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Warped Accretion Discs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2016

D. Chakrabarty*
Affiliation:
Theoretical Astrophysics Group, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester, U.K.
J. Murray
Affiliation:
Theoretical Astrophysics Group, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester, U.K.
G.A. Wynn
Affiliation:
Theoretical Astrophysics Group, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester, U.K.
A.R. King
Affiliation:
Theoretical Astrophysics Group, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester, U.K.

Abstract

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In this article we report the results of our numerical investigation of warped accretion discs in binary stellar systems. We perform complete 3-D hydrodynamic simulations of binary discs. The disc is rendered unstable to the warp mode under the action of the magnetic field of the companion star in the binary. The disc thus warped is noted to undergo retrograde precession with a precession period just slightly less than the binary period. This small difference in periods can explain the phenomenon of negative superhumps observed in a number of binaries. Besides the modal analysis based on Fourier transforms, warps were also studied by a simple and robust technique that we developed; this is based on an analysis of the azimuthal distributions of particles that lie above and below the mid-plane of the disc.

Type
Posters
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2003 

References

Patterson, J. 1999, in Disk Instabilities in Close Binary Systems, ed.s Mineshige, S. & Wheeler, J. C., Universal Academy Press, 61 Google Scholar
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Murray, J. R., Chakrabarty, Dalia, Wynn, G. A., & Kramer, L. 2001, submitted to MNRAS Google Scholar
Chakrabarty, Dalia, Murray, J. R., & Wynn, G. A. 2001, submitted to MNRAS Google Scholar