Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Time Series Energy Production In Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics Accretion Disks: Superhumps In The Am Canum Venaticorum Stars, James C. Simpson, Matt A. Wood

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Faculty Publications

The energy production time series of our purely hydrodynamic accretion disk simulations display remarkable similarities with the observed light curves of dwarf novae superhumps in general and the AM CVn stars in particular. The superhump period excess as a function of mass ratio agrees well with earlier theoretical and numerical results, and the amplitudes and relative phases of the harmonics in the power spectra agree well with the observations. The morphology of the mean pulse profile appears to be a useful predictor of system mass ratio. Our modified smoothed particle hydrodynamics code time symmetrizes the interparticle forces when individual time …