Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in Accretion Discs

Abstract

Quasi-Periodic Oscillations (QPOs) in Cataclysmic Variable stars (CVs) with periods in the range 100 – 2000 s have been known for 25 years (see Chapter 8 of Warner, 1995a). We distinguish here between QPOs and Dwarf Nova Oscillations (DNOs) – the latter being of shorter period (5 – 50 s) and greater coherence. QPOs appear as brightness modulations and typically have quite short coherence lengths (a few cycles).QPOs are largely associated with discs transferring mass at a high rate – i.e., dwarf novae during outburst or nova-like variables; but the QPOs are not always present and many systems have not shown QPOs at all.Generally it is thought that QPOs result from non-radial oscillations of the accretion discs surrounding the white dwarf component in CVs (Carroll et al., 1985; Collins et al., 2000). They could, e.g., be quite coherent oscillations of individual annuli in a disc, each with a different period. Alternatively, a particular oscillation mode may be excited for only a few cycles and then be re-excited at an arbitrary phase. Most theoretical proposals have sought to make the QPOs self-luminous pulsations of the disc, in analogy with the kappa or epsilon processes of stellar pulsation.