AAS 197, January 2001
Session 85. CVs: Optical Observations and Theory
Display, Wednesday, January 10, 2001, 9:30am-7:00pm, Exhibit Hall

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[85.11] A Preliminary Study of Cataclysmic Variable Apsidal and Nodal Superhump Oscillations

M.M. Montgomery, M.A. Wood (Florida Institute of Technology), C.J. Burke (Ohio State University)

We present preliminary results of two parametric studies of smoothed particle hydrodynamical simulations of apsidal and nodal superhumps in cataclysmic variable systems. We show disk energy production (``light'') curves and their associated Fourier transforms and mean pulse shapes. The simulations are fully three-dimensional, and the simulation system mass ratio q=M2/M1 spans the full range of observed apsidal superhump values (0.03 < q < 0.34). We compare our simulation results of apsidal superhumps with observations and find the harmonic content of the light curve alone can constrain the system mass ratio and inclination.


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