Stream-fed accretion in intermediate polars

Abstract

I review the observational evidence for stream-fed accretion in intermediate polars. Recent work on the discless system V2400 Oph confirms the pole-flipping model of stream-fed accretion, but this applies only to a minority of the flow. The bulk of the flow is in the form of blobs circling the white dwarf, a state which might have been a precursor to disc formation in other IPs. I also discuss work on the systems with anomalously long spin periods, V1025 Cen and EX Hya. There are arguments both for and against stream-fed accretion in V1025 Cen, and further work is necessary before reaching a conclusion about this system.

Citation

(2002). Stream-fed accretion in intermediate polars. Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series,

• Publication Date: Jan 29, 2002
• Journal: Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series
• Print ISSN: 1050-3390
• Publisher: Astronomical Society of the Pacific
• Publisher URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0201475v1