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P Godon, E M Sion (Villanova University)
We carry out simulations of evolutionary models of accreting white dwarfs in dwarf novae to assess the combined effect of boundary layer irradiation and compressional heating on the accreting star. We focus on the behavior of the surface observables of the accreting white dwarf for different value of the mass accretion rate and accretor mass. Outburst of days to weeks are followed by a shut off of the radial infall during quiescences lasting weeks to months. Preliminary results indicate that after a long evolution time of many accretion cycles, the effective surface temperature of the white dwarf will increase substantially. The purpose of this work is to generate a grid of models that will then be used to compared with observations of white dwarf heating and cooling in dwarf nova systems.
This work is supported by NASA HST grant GO-8139 and in part by NSF grant AST99-01955 and NASA grant NAG5-8388.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: godon@stsci.edu