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Y. Rathore (Caltech), R. D. Blandford (KIPAC, Stanford), A. E. Broderick (CfA, Harvard)
White dwarfs are extremely common, and there are quite a few black holes (we think) in the observed universe. Encounters between white dwarfs and black holes therefore appear inevitable. We consider some possible consequences of the formation of such white dwarf-compact object (WDCO) binaries. As a WDCO binary inspirals under gravitational radiation, there will be resonances when harmonics of the orbital frequency match the white dwarf oscillation eigenfrequencies. As a result, there can be resonant energy transfer from the orbit to the white dwarf normal modes. The problem is complicated by the fact that the excited modes will, in turn, perturb the orbit. In this way, the modes will influence their own excitation. After passage through a sequence of such resonances, the normal mode amplitudes may become non-linear. Possible observable consequences of this scenario will be discussed.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: yasser@caltech.edu
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 5
© 2004. The American Astronomical Society.