CRA SEMINAR | Margaret Ridder | U.S. Naval Research Laboratory | Host: Prof. John Wise

Speaker: Margaret Ridder

Host: Prof. John Wise

Title: Cataclysmic variables as radio sources

Abstract

Cataclysmic variables (CVs) are a common type of binary star, consisting of an Earth-sized white dwarf accreting matter from a small, cold red dwarf companion. While CVs have been known of for over a century and well-studied across the electromagnetic spectrum by hobbyists and professionals alike, we still lack a comprehensive picture for how they produce radio emission. In this talk, I will introduce the major hypothesis for where and how radio emission is produced in these binary stars: astrophysical jets from the white dwarf and coherent flaring from the companion star. In particular, I will focus on the latter scenario. Some of my recent work has revealed a wide variety of behavior that reinforces CVs as dynamic and interesting laboratories for astrophysics. The study of these coherent mechanisms is broadly applicable to stellar magnetic activity, opening up new pathways for observing stellar coronal mass ejections and exospace weather, which has direct consequences for exoplanet habitability.