It's been a long-standing mystery, how for some burst sources, the burst rate decreases even as the accretion rate increases. Theory and numerical models both predict that as you dial up the accretion rate, the burst ignition point should be reached earlier and earlier (up to the point when burning becomes stable and bursts stop), so that the burst rate should always increase. Yuri Cavecchi recently came up with an alternative explanation, related to the way that the burst ignition point moves from the equator to higher latitudes at higher accretion rates. If this movement is sufficiently fast, a decrease in burst rate can result even as the accretion rate continues to increase. Yuri's paper (also with longtime burst expert Anna Watts) was just accepted by ApJ

Read the paper arXiv:1711.04389

Labels: 2017, thermonuclear bursts