A three-dimensional smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulation of the active phase of SS Cyg-type discs and its implications for the mass transfer burst model

Abstract

We perform a smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) three-dimensional simulation of the outburst phase of the accretion disc of a typical SS Cyg-like dwarf nova in the framework of the mass transfer burst model (MTBM), where we assume that the active phase is triggered by a sudden increase in the accretion rate due to some instability in the secondary's atmosphere. The evolution of the accretion disc is followed for a single orbital period, starting from the initial quiescent disc configuration obtained by us in a previous paper. This is a suitable integration time for determining the geometrical and physical properties of the disc in the impulsive phase and is comparable with observed outburst time-scales