TT Ari's Photometric Behavior Shows Significant Changes from 2021 to 2023

Recent observations of the cataclysmic variable star TT Ari have revealed significant changes in its photometric behavior over the years 2021 to 2023. A comparative analysis was conducted using data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and ground-based amateur telescopes. The findings indicate that the light curves from 2021 and 2022 were primarily influenced by negative superhumps, with periods of 0.13292 days and 0.13273 days, respectively. In contrast, the 2023 observations showed a marked increase in modulation strength, with amplitudes reaching up to 0.5 magnitudes, compared to 0.2 magnitudes in previous years.

The study also identified a previously unnoticed periodic signal corresponding to the orbital period of 0.13755 days in the TESS data from 2021. Theoretical models of tidal precession suggest that the observed changes in the precession period correlate with the increasing disk radius, allowing for an estimation of the mass ratio of the components in TT Ari to be between 0.24 and 0.29. These results are significant as they enhance our understanding of the dynamics of cataclysmic variables and their photometric behavior.

This research, titled "Comparison of the disk precession models with the photometric behavior of TT Ari in 2021-2023," has been accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics and can be accessed at arXiv:2403.15254.