Thermal-Tidal Instability Model of Dwarf Novae Below the Period Gap: A Unification Theory

Abstract

A unification theory is proposed in which almost all of outburst behavior in dwarf novae may be understood in a unified way within the basic framework of the disk instability model. In particular, a rich variety of outburst behavior of cataclysmic variables below the period gap may be understood by the thermal-tidal instability model in which the coupling of the two intrinsic instabilities in the accretion disk plays a unique role.