Go to Page Main Content
NASA - Goddard Institute for Space Studies + NASA Portal
+ Goddard Space Flight Center
+ GSFC Earth Sciences Division
FIND IT @ NASA
NASA Homepage Goddard Institute for Space Studies

ABSTRACT

Carroll et al. 1985

Carroll, B.W., P.N. McDermott, M.P. Savedoff, H.M. van Horn, and W. Cabot, 1985: Accretion disk oscillations: A local analysis in a disk of finite thickness. Astrophys. J., 296, 529-539, doi:10.1086/163472.

Two types of oscillations are observed to occur in dwarf novae: "coherent" and "quasi-periodic" oscillations. These may be associated with the pulsation of the white dwarf or the accretion disk components of the dwarf nova. Here a local (short-wavelength) analysis is utilized to study the oscillation of a self-consistent, two-dimensional model of an accretion disk. The linearized equations describing adiabatic, inviscid, nonaxisymmetric oscillations are used to derive a fifth-order algebraic equation for the (complex) pulsation frequency of the disk. The solutions of this equation for various values of the wavevector k reveal that the disk is capable of supporting (1) a pair of high-frequency acoustic modes (p-modes); (2) a pair of intermediate-frequency modes which may share the characteristics of internal gravity waves (g-modes) and inertial waves; and (3) a mode associated with a dynamical instability (purely imaginary frequency). The role played by the shear in determining the stability or instability of these modes is also considered. Finally, we discuss the global oscillation frequencies of the disk.

  • Download PDF (Document is 773 kB; scanned, no OCR)
  • PDF documents require a special viewer such as the free Adobe Reader.

Citation Styles

Show: ACP, AGU, AMS, ApJ, JQSRT, Science style

+ GISS Home

PUBLICATIONS
  • Publications Main Page
  • Authors
  • GISS Best Publication Award
  • Dissertations
  • Advanced Search
  • Publications Help
USA.gov

End of Page