Singing and Dancing White Dwarfs

Accreting white dwarfs have recently been shown to exhibit non-radial pulsations similar to their non-interacting counterparts. This allows us to probe the interior of the accreting white dwarf using seismology, and may be the only way to determine masses for non-eclipsing cataclysmic variables. Improving our understanding of accreting white dwarfs will have implications for models of supernovae Type Ia. Pulsating white dwarfs in cataclysmic variables are also useful in establishing the effects of accretion on pulsations. A search for nonradial pulsations among suitable candidates has led to the discovery of twelve such systems known to date. With the goal of establishing an instability strip (or strips) for these pulsating accretors, we acquired HST ultra-violet time-series spectroscopy of six pulsating white dwarfs in cataclysmic variables in 2007 and 2008. This approach enables us to measure the effective temperature of the white dwarf using the co-added spectrum, and to simultaneously characterize the pulsations. We also intended to constrain the pulsation mode identification by comparing the ultraviolet amplitudes to those from near-simultaneous ground-based photometry. Our preliminary results indicate a broad instability strip in the temperature range of 10500-15400 K.