Activity of the mass-accreting compact objects prospects for the optical monitoring

Vojtĕch Šimon*
Astronomical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 25165 Ondřejov, Czech Republic and Czech Technical University in Prague, FEL, Prague, Czech Republic

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Abstract

We discuss the perspectives of investigation of the mass-accreting compact objects in the binary systems, for example cataclysmic variables (CVs), with monitors. Especially the processes that operate on timescales of years are little studied, hence little understood. However, the profiles of the light curves can be significantly affected by the sampling of data from the monitors. We show an approximation of how the profiles of these light curves change after a heavy sampling of the data. We find that histograms of brightness (in magnitudes) provide us with a representative description of the properties of the long-term activity of a given type of CV even in the sampled data. We also discuss the strategy of monitoring of these systems, particularly as regards the spatial distribution of these systems in the Galaxy and their peak brightness.



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Keywords : X-rays: binaries – circumstellar matter – accretion, accretion disks – novae, cataclysmic variables – Astronomical instrumentation, methods and techniques