PhD in Astronomy, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany

 Telephone:+56 32 299 5551
E-mail: claus.tappert@uv.cl

Publications

Research

Cataclysmic variables, binary stars, novae.

I am mainly working on cataclysmic variables (CVs). These are 
interacting binary stars, where the primary component (the more massive 
one) is a white dwarf, and the secondary component is a main-sequence 
(like) star of spectral type K-M. The latter fills its Roche lobe and 
thus transfers material into the gravitational regime of the primary. 
Depending on the size of the white dwarf’s magnetic field, this material 
is accreted by the primary either via an accretion disc, or along the 
magnetic field lines.
In the past I have been working on various aspects of CV-related 
phenomena, but my current interest concerns the evolution of these 
objects, and specifically the role of the nova eruption. This has now 
led me to the study of the nova ejecta (nova shells), primarily as an 
indicator for a former nova eruption, but I am also slowly getting into 
their physics and what they can tell us about the eruption itself.

 

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