SUPERHUMPS, RESONANCES AND ACCRETION DISKS

The structure of accretion discs within binary systems is shown to be influenced by the excitation of resonances within the disc. Of particular importance is that near the 3:1 commensurability with the stars' orbit. This can be used to explain the superhump phenomenon of SU Ursae Majoris dwarf novae in superoutburst. This resonance can only appear for mass ratios which satisfy M2/M1 less-than-or-equal-to 0.25-0.33: for larger mass ratios the available resonances are weaker and of the wrong form to produce the superhump phenomenon. The mass-transfer stream is shown to be an important contributor to the growth rate of the resonance.