No Arabic abstract
We consider a recently-proposed alternative explanation of the CV period gap in terms of a revised mass-radius relation for the lower main sequence. We show that no such thermal-equilibrium relation is likely to produce a true gap. Using population synthesis techniques we calculate a model population that obeys the claimed equilibrium mass-radius relation. A theoretical period histogram obtained from this population shows two prominent period spikes rather than a gap. We consider also recent arguments suggesting that the period gap itself may not be real. We argue that, far from demonstrating a weakness of the interrupted-braking picture, the fact that most CV subtypes prefer one side of the gap or the other is actually an expected consequence of it.
The standard picture of CV secular evolution predicts a spike in the CV distribution near the observed short-period cutoff P_0 ~ 78 min, which is not observed. We show that an intrinsic spread in minimum (`bounce) periods P_b resulting from a genuine difference in some parameter controlling the evolution can remove the spike without smearing the sharpness of the cutoff. The most probable second parameter is different admixtures of magnetic stellar wind braking (at up to 5 times the GR rate) in a small tail of systems, perhaps implying that the donor magnetic field strength at formation is a second parameter specifying CV evolution. We suggest that magnetic braking resumes below the gap with a wide range, being well below the GR rate in most CVs, but significantly above it in a small tail.
We present here results of an optical spectroscopic study of a new Cataclysmic Variable SDSS J001856.93+345444.3. We demonstrate that the most probable value of the orbital period of the system is Porb = 0.6051 pm 0.022 days (=14.5226 hours), based on the measurements of radial velocity of a complex of absorption features emanating from the K2-K4V type secondary component. However, the radial velocity measurements from the emission lines are best folded with the period Pem = 0.5743day (=13.78 hours). The gamma-velocity of the emission lines varies significantly from epoch to epoch. There is an underlying broader and weaker component to the emission lines, which we could not resolve. Based on the appearance of the emission lines, the presence of very strong He II lines and the moderate polarization detected by Dillon et al. (2008), we conclude that SDSS J0018+3454 is an asynchronous magnetic CV (Polar).
We present simultaneous spectral and photometric observations of SDSS J123813.73-033933.0. From Ha radial velocity measurements we determined the orbital period of the system to be 0.05592+/-0.00002 days (80.53 min). The spectrum shows double Balmer emission lines flanked by strong, broad absorption, indicating a dominant contribution from the white dwarf. The photometric light curve shows complex variability. The system undergoes cyclic brightening up to 0.4 mag which are semi-periodical on short time scales with periods of the order of 7-12 hours. We also detect 40.25 min variability (~0.15 mag) in the light curve, that corresponds to half the orbital period. Its amplitude increases with the cyclic brightening of the system.
The present paper concludes our investigations on the QCD cross-over transition temperatures with 2+1 staggered flavours and one-link stout improvement. We extend our previous two studies [Phys. Lett. B643 (2006) 46, JHEP 0906:088 (2009)] by choosing even finer lattices ($N_t$=16) and we work again with physical quark masses. The new results on this broad cross-over are in complete agreement with our earlier ones. We compare our findings with the published results of the hotQCD collaboration. All these results are confronted with the predictions of the Hadron Resonance Gas model and Chiral Perturbation Theory for temperatures below the transition region. Our results can be reproduced by using the physical spectrum in these analytic calculations. The findings of the hotQCD collaboration can be recovered by using a distorted spectrum which takes into account lattice discretization artifacts and heavier than physical quark masses. This analysis provides a simple explanation for the observed discrepancy in the transition temperatures between our and the hotQCD collaborations.
We present time-resolved spectroscopy and photometry of CSS 120422:111127+571239 (= SBS1108+574), a recently discovered SU UMa-type dwarf nova whose 55-minute orbital period is well below the CV period minimum of ~78 minutes. In contrast with most other known CVs, its spectrum features He I emission of comparable strength to the Balmer lines, implying a hydrogen abundance less than 0.1 of long period CVs---but still at least 10 times higher than than in AM CVn stars. Together, the short orbital period and remarkable helium-to-hydrogen ratio suggest that mass transfer in CSS 1204 began near the end of the donor stars main-sequence lifetime, meaning that the system is probably an AM CVn progenitor as described by Podsiadlowski, Han, and Rappaport (2003). Moreover, a Doppler tomogram of the Halpha line reveals two distinct regions of enhanced emission. While one is the result of the stream-disk impact, the other is probably attributable to spiral disk structure generated when material in the outer disk achieves a 2:1 orbital resonance with respect to the donor.