Speaker
Description
Fundamental questions remain about the accretion and outflow physics of cataclysmic variable stars, and their counterparts, AM CVn systems. In an AM CVn system, both the accretor and donor are white dwarf stars. To date, only one AM CVn system has been detected in the radio spectrum and the mechanism for this is yet to be determined. Using observations from the Karl J. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), I have obtained the deepest radio constraints to date, for two AM CVn systems: AM CVn and HP Lib. I have cross-matched these data and catalogue data, with large scale surveys such as LOFAR, RACS and VLASS to constrain the population of AM CVns, and investigate the radio emission mechanisms in accreting white dwarf binaries. Additionally, this study aims to contribute to ongoing efforts in understanding whether the radio emissions observed in CVs are due to flares in the atmosphere of the donor star, versus transient jets originating from the accretion disk. In this talk, I will discuss how understanding outflows and radio emissions from accreting white dwarfs such as these may help constrain radio emission mechanisms in CVs and similar compact binaries undergoing accretion.
