Disk-overflow accretion in GK Persei?

Abstract

We reanalyze the 1983 European X-ray Observatory Satellite (EXOSAT) observations of GK Per during an outburst to investigate the approximately 5000 s quasiperiodic modulation. We find that the spectral behavior is reminiscent of dipping low-mass X-ray binaries and note that the time scale is characteristic of the radius where an accretion stream overflowing the disk would collide back onto the disk. We suggest that structure caused by such disk-overflow accretion was periodically obscuring the white dwarf, producing the modulation.