Document Type

Article

Publication Title

The Astrophysical Journal Letters

Abstract

The timing capabilities and sensitivity of Kepler, NASA's observatory to find Earth-sized planets within the habitable zone of stars, are well matched to the timescales and amplitudes of accretion disk variability in cataclysmic variables. This instrumental combination provides an unprecedented opportunity to test and refine stellar accretion paradigms with high-precision, uniform data, and containing none of the diurnal or season gaps that limit ground-based observations. We present a 3 month, 1 minute cadence Kepler light curve of V344 Lyr, a faint, little-studied dwarf nova within the Kepler field. The light curve samples V344 Lyr during five full normal outbursts and one superoutburst. Surprisingly, the superhumps found during the superoutburst continue to be detected during the following quiescent state and normal outburst. The fractional excess of the superhump period over the presumed orbital period suggests a relatively high binary mass ratio in a system where the radius of the accretion disk must vary by less than 2% in order to maintain tidal precession throughout the extended episode of superhumping. The disk radius is less restricted if the quiescent signal identified tentatively as the orbital period is a negative superhump, generated by a retrograde-precessing accretion disk, tilted with respect to the binary orbital plane.

DOI

10.1088/2041-8205/717/2/L113

Publication Date

7-10-2010

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