Speaker
Please indicate whether<br>this abstract may be<br>published online<br>(Yes / No)
yes
Level for award<br> (Hons, MSc, <br> PhD, N/A)?
PhD
Main supervisor (name and email)<br>and his / her institution
Prof Patrick Woudt, pwoudt@ast.uct.ac.za
UCT
Would you like to <br> submit a short paper <br> for the Conference <br> Proceedings (Yes / No)?
no
Apply to be<br> considered for a student <br> award (Yes / No)?
yes
Abstract content <br> (Max 300 words)<br><a href="http://events.saip.org.za/getFile.py/access?resId=0&materialId=0&confId=34" target="_blank">Formatting &<br>Special chars</a>
Cataclysmic variables (CVs) are mass transferring binary stars consisting of a low mass main sequence donor star and an accreting white dwarf star. The presence of a strong magnetic field affects the trajectory of the mass causing it to flow along the magnetic field lines into the magnetic poles of the white dwarf. An intermediate polar has a truncated inner accretion disc whereas the stronger magnetic field of a polar prevents an accretion disc from forming. The Catalina Real-time Transient Survey (CRTS) detects and characterises transients in the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Magnetic CVs were originally discovered from their X-ray properties but with the long nine year observing baseline of the CRTS, it makes it ideal for identifying magnetic CVs from their long-term optical photometric properties. We aim to use the CRTS to study the global population of magnetic CVs in terms of their low-high state duty cycles and also individually selected magnetic CV candidates. These individually selected candidates have been followed up with photometric and spectroscopic observations that were taken with the 1.0/1.9m telescopes and SALT at SAAO in Sutherland.
