Margaret Ridder
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
Cataclysmic variables as radio sources
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. They are a favorite among backyard observers for their frequent variability on timescales from weeks to months, which stems from variation in accretion states. While CVs have been known of for over a century and well-studied across the electromagnetic spectrum by hobbyists and professionals alike, we are only just beginning to understand how they produce radio emission. In this talk, I will outline our current understanding of CVs and 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. Some of the most recent research, which focuses on the latter scenario, has revealed a wide variety of behavior that reinforces CVs as dynamic and interesting laboratories for astrophysics.