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M. A. Wood (Florida Institute of Technology), Whole Earth Telescope XCov15 Team
In this work we present the mean O-C diagram of the 71-s signal in the cataclysmic variable system DQ Herculis observed during the July 1997 Whole Earth Telescope campaign. Observed phase variations outside eclipse result from subtle variations in the height of the accretion disk rim in this edge-on system. We also present the results of a smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulation appropriate to DQ Her, from which we calculated ab initio the O-C diagram as a function of disk inclination. The calculated O-C diagrams are a remarkably good match to the observed phase variations of the 71-s signal, best for inclination angles over the small range 89.5\circ \le i < 89.7\circ. Our results suggest it is likely that pulsed radiation is received from both sides of the accretion disk at one or more orbital phases in DQ Her if i\ge89.6\circ.