The evolution of viscous discs - I. Mass transfer variations

Abstract

A method for treating the time-dependent evolution of accretion disks in mass-transferring binaries is described. The method is used to study the evolution into a steady disk-following turn-on of mass transfer at a constant rate onto a white dwarf. The final steady-state is in agreement with analytic alpha-disk solutions. The effect of high mass-transfer-rate bursts by the companion star is studied and compared with the eruptions of dwarf novae. It is concluded that the overall outburst properties of dwarf novae are satisfactorily reproduced by bursting mass-transfer and that alpha is approximately 1 for this model.