An accreting white dwarf displaying fast transitional mode switching

Scaringi, Simone; Martino, D. de; Buckley, David; Groot, P.; Knigge, Christian; Fratta, M.; Iłkiewicz, Krystian; Papitto, A.

doi:10.1038/s41550-021-01494-x

Cited by 20 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Likewise, with TW Pic, magnetically gated bursts occur at diminished accretion rates, typically last for ∼ 30 min, and recur every 1.2 − 2.4 h (Scaringi et al 2021). As with MV Lyr, the short durations and recurrence intervals of TW Pic's bursts are consistent with it possessing a lower field strength than V1025 Cen.…”

Section: Magnetic Gating In Other Ipsmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…Because V1025 Cen has already been independently confirmed to be an IP (Buckley et al 1998;Hellier et al 1998), the detection of magnetic gating in its TESS light curve provides important validation of the magneticgating interpretation by Scaringi et al (2017Scaringi et al ( , 2021 and its extension to magnetized WDs in general. Additionally, because accreting WDs are more common than accreting neutron stars, the presence of magnetic gating in at least some of these systems offers a convenient means of amassing observations against which theoretical predictions can be tested.…”

Section: Magnetic Gating In Other Ipsmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…As with MV Lyr, the short durations and recurrence intervals of TW Pic's bursts are consistent with it possessing a lower field strength than V1025 Cen. Scaringi et al (2021) constrained the field strength to be 1 MG but found that it is degenerate with the unknown spin period of the WD.…”

Section: Magnetic Gating In Other Ipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hameury & Lasota (2017a) concluded that the DNI cannot explain the very short (∼hours-long) outbursts observed in some IPs, implying that a different mechanism is responsible for very short IP outbursts. Recently, Scaringi et al (2017Scaringi et al ( , 2021 identified a repetitive series of rapid, low-amplitude bursts of accretion in the nominally non-magnetic systems MV Lyr and TW Pic, respectively. Both studies attributed these bursts to magnetically gated accretion via the Spruit & Taam (1993) instability, which occurs in systems whose inner disk radius, defined as the magnetospheric radius, is close to the corotation radius.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Once the reservoir of matter outside the magnetosphere is depleted, the cycle repeats itself, giving rise to episodic spurts of accretion. Scaringi et al (2017Scaringi et al ( , 2021 determined that this process would occur at a critical mass-transfer rate determined by the WD's magnetic-field strength and its rotational frequency. However, neither of these two systems was previously known to possess a magnetized WD, and the bursts themselves provided the main evidence for the WD's magnetism.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rapid bursts of magnetically gated accretion in the intermediate polar V1025 Cen

Littlefield,

Lasota,

Hameury

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Magnetically gated accretion has emerged as a proposed mechanism for producing extremely short, repetitive bursts of accretion onto magnetized white dwarfs in intermediate polars (IPs), but this phenomenon has not been detected previously in a confirmed IP. We report the 27 d TESS light curve of V1025 Cen, an IP that shows a remarkable series of twelve bursts of accretion, each lasting for less than six hours. The extreme brevity of the bursts and their short recurrence times (∼ 1 − 3 d) are incompatible with the dwarf-nova instability, but they are natural consequences of the magnetic gating mechanism developed by Spruit & Taam to explain the Type II bursts of the accreting neutron star known as the Rapid Burster. In this model, the accretion flow piles up at the magnetospheric boundary and presses inward until it couples with the star's magnetic field, producing an abrupt burst of accretion. After each burst, the reservoir of matter at the edge of the magnetosphere is replenished, leading to cyclical bursts of accretion. A pair of recent studies applied this instability to the suspected IPs MV Lyr and TW Pic, but the magnetic nature of these two systems has not been independently confirmed. In contrast, previous studies have unambiguously established the white dwarf in V1025 Cen to be significantly magnetized. The detection of magnetically gated bursts in a confirmed IP therefore validates the extension of the Spruit & Taam instability to magnetized white dwarfs.

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Section: Magnetic Gating In Other Ipsmentioning

confidence: 79%

Section: Magnetic Gating In Other Ipsmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Magnetic Gating In Other Ipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Rapid bursts of magnetically gated accretion in the intermediate polar V1025 Cen

Littlefield,

Lasota,

Hameury

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Localized thermonuclear bursts from accreting magnetic white dwarfs

Scaringi

Groot

Knigge

et al. 2022

Nature

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Magnetically gated accretion model: Application to short bursts in the intermediate polar V1223 Sgr

Hameury

Lasota

Shaw

2022

A&A

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Context. Some intermediate polars (IPs) show outbursts that are much shorter than those observed in normal dwarf novae, and their origin remains unclear. Aims. We examine the case of V1223 Sgr, an intermediate polar that showed a short outburst in 1984, and compare the outburst characteristics with the predictions of the magnetospheric gating model. Methods. We extracted outburst profiles from the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) archival data. We used our code to compute the time-dependent evolution of an accretion disc truncated by the white dwarf magnetic field, using a simple description of the interaction between the disc and the magnetic field, as in D’Angelo & Spruit (2010, MNRAS, 406, 1208). Results. We find that V1223 Sgr underwent a series of short outbursts, with a rise lasting for typically two to three hours, and a slightly longer decay. When applied to IPs, the model by D’Angelo & Spruit (2010, MNRAS, 406, 1208) accounts well for the observed outburst duration and intensity. However, we confirm that the model outcome depends sensitively on the assumptions of the rather poorly constrained model. We also searched the AAVSO database for short outbursts in other IPs, identifying individual short outbursts in FO Aqr, TV Col, NY Lup, and EI UMa, but no series such as those observed in V1223 Sgr. We also found a superoutburst, followed by a reflare in CTCV J2056−3014. Conclusions. Although the magnetic–gating accretion instability model is clearly responsible for the series of V1223 Sgr short outbursts and most probably for similar events in other IPs, the model describing this process needs improvement, in particular concerning the interaction between the magnetic field of the white dwarf and the accretion disc. This difficult task might benefit from further comparison of the model outcome with additional observations that show good time coverage and time resolution.

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An accreting white dwarf displaying fast transitional mode switching

Cited by 20 publications

References 43 publications

Rapid bursts of magnetically gated accretion in the intermediate polar V1025 Cen

Rapid bursts of magnetically gated accretion in the intermediate polar V1025 Cen

Localized thermonuclear bursts from accreting magnetic white dwarfs

Magnetically gated accretion model: Application to short bursts in the intermediate polar V1223 Sgr

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