On the nature of the anomalous event in 2021 in the dwarf nova SS Cygni and its multi-wavelength transition

TL;DR

This study investigates an anomalous 2021 event in dwarf nova SS Cyg, using multi-wavelength observations to challenge existing models of standstill phenomena in cataclysmic variables.

Contribution

The paper proposes a new scenario where enhanced viscosity in the accretion disk triggers standstill-like states, supported by multi-wavelength observational evidence and spectral analysis.

Findings

No significant change in orbital hump, indicating stable mass transfer rate.

Optical and X-ray flux increased simultaneously during quiescence.

X-ray spectral analysis shows hotter, denser inner accretion flow during the event.

Abstract

SS Cyg has long been recognized as the prototype of a group of dwarf novae that show only outbursts. However, this object has entered a quite anomalous event in 2021, which at first appeared to be standstill, i.e., an almost constant luminosity state, observed in Z Cam-type dwarf novae. This unexpected event gives us a great opportunity to reconsider the nature of standstill in cataclysmic variables. We have observed this anomalous event and its forerunner, a gradual and simultaneous increase in the optical and X-ray flux during quiescence, through many optical telescopes and the X-ray telescopes NICER and NuSTAR. We have not found any amplification of the orbital hump during quiescence before the anomalous event, which suggests that the mass transfer rate did not significantly fluctuate on average. The estimated X-ray flux was not enough to explain the increment of the optical flux during quiescence via X-ray irradiation of the disk and the secondary star. It would be natural to consider that viscosity in the quiescent disk was enhanced before the anomalous event, which increased mass accretion rates in the disk and raised not only the optical flux but also the X-ray flux. We suggest that enhanced viscosity also triggered the standstill-like phenomenon in SS Cyg, which is considered to be a series of small outbursts. The inner part of the disk would always stay in the outburst state and only its outer part would be unstable against the thermal-viscous instability during this phenomenon, which is consistent with the observed optical color variations. This scenario is in line with our X-ray spectral analyses which imply that the X-ray emitting inner accretion flow became hotter than usual and vertically expanded and that it became denser and was cooled down after the onset of the standstill-like state.