Convective accretion disks and the onset of dwarf nova outbursts

Abstract

Vertically integrated, steady state convective models of accretion disks have been constructed to explore the mechanism of instability in dwarf novae. The models and observations of dwarf novae suggest a picture in which transferred matter piles up in an optically thin torus. The torus eventually becomes optically thick, and the resulting convective structure is thermally unstable. Matter then flows inward, and the sudden conversion of gravitational potential energy to radiation is identified as the dwarf nova outburst. At sufficiently high mass accretion rates, the inflow is continuous.