Difference between the optical flickering colours of cataclysmic variables and symbiotic recurrent novae

TL;DR

This study compares the flickering colours of cataclysmic variables and symbiotic recurrent novae, revealing a significant difference that may indicate different physical processes in these accreting white dwarf systems.

Contribution

It provides the first direct comparison of flickering colours between these two types of accreting white dwarf systems, highlighting a statistically significant difference.

Findings

Significant colour difference in flickering between the two systems

p-value approximately 2 x 10^{-6} for (U-B)_0

p-value approximately 3 x 10^{-5} on (U-B) vs (B-V) diagram

Abstract

We performed simultaneous observations in 3 bands (UBV) of the flickering variability of the recurrent novae RS Oph and T CrB at quiescence. Using new and published data, we compare the colours of the flickering in cataclysmic variables and symbiotic recurrent novae. We find a difference between the colours of the flickering source in these two types of accreting white dwarfs. The detected difference is highly significant with $ p-value \approx 2 \times 10^{-6}$ for the distributions of $(U-B)_0$ colour and $p \approx 3 \times 10^{-5}$ on (U-B) versus (B-V) diagram. The possible physical reasons are briefly discussed. The data are available upon request from the authors.