Optical variability properties of accretion white dwarfs: Tomaso’s legacy beyond X-ray binaries

10 Sept 2026, 17:30
30m
Cefalù

Cefalù

Cefalù, province of Palermo, Sicily. Sala delle Capriate in the Town Hall (Piazza Duomo).

Speaker

Dr Simone Scaringi (Durham University)

Description

Accreting white dwarfs (AWDs) are exceptionally bright and relatively abundant in our Galaxy, making them invaluable laboratories for studying both accretion physics and binary evolution. In this talk, I will focus on cataclysmic variables (a subset of AWDs) and discuss how ground- and space-based observations have provided unprecedented detail on their broad-band and quasi-periodic variability as well as transient behaviour over the past decade. I will review the many striking phenomenological similarities between the variability properties of AWDs to accreting stellar-mass black holes and neutron star X-ray binaries, most of which has been directly inspired and motivated by the long-lasting legacy pioneered by Tomaso’s foundational work on X-ray binaries.

Author

Dr Simone Scaringi (Durham University)

Presentation materials

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