2005/03/31 by Wlodek Kluzniak, Jean-Pierre Lasota, Marek A. Abramowicz +1
Physics and Astronomy · #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:200500163
Revised version. Astronomy & Astrophysics (Letters), in press
arxiv created 2005/07/29 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
Recent observations, reported by Warner and Woudt, of Dwarf Nova Oscillations (DNOs) exhibiting frequency drift, period doubling, and 1:2:3 harmonic structure, can be understood as disc oscillations that are excited by perturbations at the spin frequency of the white dwarf or of its equatorial layers. Similar quasi-periodic disc oscillations in black hole low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) transients in a 2:3 frequency ratio show no evidence of frequency drift and correspond to two separate modes of disc oscillation excited by an internal resonance. Just as no effects of general relativity play a role in white dwarf DNOs, no stellar surface or magnetic field effects need be invoked to explain the black hole QPOs.