Unified g - and r -mode Analysis of Accreting White Dwarf Stars

Abstract Dwarf novae are a subset of cataclysmic variables that accrete material intermittently in short-duration outbursts with sometimes long quiescent intervals in between. During the quiescent state, the white dwarf (WD) photosphere may be observable. Some of these systems show periodic variability consistent with a nonradial oscillation. Asteroseismology has become a unique tool for the measurement of the internal structure of the WDs, such as their masses, radii, temperatures, and rotation profiles. A few stable periodicities have been observed for accreting WDs, but the lack of complete and accurate theoretical models has hindered the real diagnosis of the observed pulsations. Though the associated pulsations in accreting WDs are thought to be g -modes, some work in the literature suggests that these pulsations could be Rossby modes ( r -modes). Here, to elucidate this, we present a first simultaneous analysis of g - and r -mode pulsations in accreting WDs, including a full computation of visibility accounting for the distribution of variation over the WD surface. We show that, up to the second lowest degree ( ℓ = 2), neither g - nor r -modes have a clear advantage in visibility. Although a few retrograde r -mode orders exhibit a larger visibility, the low-order g -modes possess a higher frequency in the star’s frame, making them more likely to be driven within the convective driving scenario commonly applied to isolated WDs. Therefore, we favor a g -mode origin for the observed periods in accreting WDs, though r -modes will be important for stars with more observed modes.