€Cataclysmic variables are fairly common systems, the later
stages of much of binary evolution
€They produce the low-level background of discrete sources
in galactic X-ray emission – fainter but much more
numerous than neutron-star or Black hole X-ray binaries
€They are highly important laboratories for studies of
accretion
–disk behaviour
:instabilities,
:stream impacts,
:warps,
:tidal resonances,
:spiral waves etc.
–magnetically dominated accretion
:accretion columns,
:emission from post-shock flow,
:shocks, instabilities etc.
€Multi-wavelength emission (polarised in many cases) allows
a multi-wavelength approach, providing very strong
observational constraints on the interpretation of data