White Dwarfs in Binary Systems
Binary consisting of white dwarf +
main-sequence or red giant star
=> WD accretes matter from the
companion
Angular momentum
conservation
=> accreted
matter forms a disk, called
accretion disk
.
Matter in the
accretion disk heats
up to ~ 1 million K
=> X ray emission
=> “X ray binary”.
T ~ 10
6
K
X ray
emission
0