Colloquium No. 72 of the International Astronomical Union covered many observations and theoretical developments in the field of cataclysmic variables and related objects. Much time was devoted to discussions and we made an effort to include as much of the discussions material as possible in the proceedings. The Local Organizing Committee would like to thank; The International Astronomical Union for travel grants The Israel Academy of Sciences for financial support The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology for financial support and assistance Bank Leumi Le-Israel for a generous support We also thank the Dean of the Faculty of Physics, our colleagues and students for their assistance. MARIO LIVIO GIORA SHAVIV SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZING COMMITTEE B. Warner (Chairman), G.T. Bath, D. Crampton, J.E. Pringle, E.L. Robinson, G. Shaviv, R.E. Williams, J. Smak LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE G. Shaviv (Chairman), A. Finzi, M. Livio, H. Netzer, 0, Sadeh LIST OF PARTICIPANTS BATH, Geoffrey, T. Dept. of Astrophysics, Oxford, England BIANCHINI, Antonio Osservatorio Astronomico, Padova, Italy BROWNLEE, Robert, R. Los Alamos, New Mexico, U.S.A. CHANMUGAM, Ganesh Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, U.S.A. COLVIN, Jeff EG&G, Los Alamos, U.S.A. COWLEY, Anne, P. Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, Canada CRAMPTON, David Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, Canada EGGLETON, Peter P. Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, England EVANS, A. Dept. of Physics, University of Keele, United Kingdom FEINGOLD, Susan J. Dept. of Physics, Technion, Israel FINZI, A.

This timely volume provides the first comprehensive survey of cataclysmic variable stars, integrating theory and observation into a single, synthesised text.

In 1993 we began to consider the possibility of holding a conference on Catacysmic Variables (CVs) at Keele University. There have been several meetings in the area of CVs recently (e. g. Eilat, Abano-Padova, Capetown). However as preparations for the Keele meeting progressed we realized that, while there had been a number of IAU meetings devoted to related and to peripheral topics (such as IAU Colloquium 122 on Classical Novae in 1989, IAU Colloquium 129 on Accretion Disks in 1990), there had been no IAU-sponsored conferences in the area of cataclysmi/: variables (CVs) for a number of years. We felt therefore that the time was ripe to have an IAU meeting de voted to an overview of CVs and related objects and the SOC organized the conference such that there was an emphasis on invited reviews of the most recent advances in the field. The conference covered both CVs and LMXBs and the inter-relations between them. The meeting was held at a time when powerful satellite observatories, and rapid improvements in ground based instrumentation, had led to many advances in both CV and LMXB research. The conference provided a forum to review observations from ASCA, EUVE, ROSAT, Ginga and the recently-refurbished HST. Photo metric, spectroscopic and polarimetric observations of CVs and LMXBs have thrown new light on the distribution of matter and the nature of the stellar components in these systems.

This volume begins with an introductory chapter on general properties of cataclysmic variables. Chapters 2 through 5 of Part 1 are devoted to observations and interpretation of dwarf novae and nova-like stars. Chapters 6 through 10, Part 2, discuss the general observational properties of classical and recurrent novae, the theoretical models, and the characteristics and models for some well observed classical novae and recurrent novae. Chapters 11 through 14 of Part 3 are devoted to an overview of the observations of symbiotic stars, to a description of the various models proposed for explaining the symbiotic phenomenon, and to a discussion of a few selected objects, respectively. Chapter 15 briefly examines the many unsolved problems posed by the observations of the different classes of cataclysmic variables and symbiotic stars.

This text presents numerous illustrations of the observed variability of cataclysmic variable stars. It provides a clear explanation and thorough up-to-date overview of this phenomena at a level accessible to the advanced amateur or undergraduate student.

Accretion disks in compact stellar systems containing white dwarfs, neutron stars or black holes are the principal laboratory for understanding the role of accretion disks in a wide variety of environments from proto-stars to quasars. Recent work on disk instabilities and dynamics has given a new theoretical framework with which to study accretion disks. Modeling of time-dependent phenomena provides new insight into the causes and interpretation of photometric and spectroscopic variability and new constraints on the fundamental physical problem — the origin of viscosity in accretion disks. This book contains expert reviews on the nature of limit cycle thermal instabilities and a variety of closely related topics from the theory of angular momentum transport to eclipse mapping of the disk structure. The result is a comprehensive contemporary survey of the structure and evolution of accretion disks in compact binary systems.

In the Victorian era – or for non-British readers, the mid-to-late nineteenth century – amateur astronomy tended to center on Solar System objects. The Moon and planets, as well as bright comets, were the key objects of interest. The brighter variable stars were monitored, but photography was in its infancy and digital imaging lay a century in the future. Today, at the start of the twenty-first century, amateurs are better equipped than any professionals of the mid-twentieth century, let alone the nineteenth. An amateur equipped with a 30-cm telescope and a CCD camera can easily image objects below magnitude 20 and, from very dark sites, 22 or 23. Such limits would have been within the realm of the 100- and 200-inch reflectors on Mount Wilson and Mount Palomar in the 1950s, but no other observatories. However, even those telescopes took hours to reach such limits, and then the photographic plates had to be developed, fixed, and examined by eye. In the modern era digital images can be obtained in minutes and analyzed ‘on the fly’ while more images are being downloaded. Developments can be e-mailed to other interested amateurs in real time, during an observing session, so that when a cataclysmic event takes place amateurs worldwide know about it. As recently as the 1980s, even professional astronomers could only dream of such instantaneous communication and proc- sing ability.