An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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A model describing → dwarf novae and → Soft X-ray Transient (SXT)s. Accordingly, these objects are triggered by an → accretion disk instability due to an abrupt change in opacities (→ opacity) at → temperatures at which hydrogen is partially ionized. All versions of the DIM have this ingredient. They differ in assumptions about → viscosity, and about what happens at the inner and outer disk radii. Basically, during → quiescence, material accumulates in the accretion disk until a critical point is reached. The disk then becomes unstable and is dumped onto the → compact object, releasing a burst of → X-rays. However, the greater duration of SXT bursts (months) and the time interval between bursts (decades) cannot be accounted for by the standard disk instability model used for dwarf novae, and additional factors such as X-ray illumination and irradiation of the accretion disk are required for the model to match the observed properties of SXTs (J-P Lasota and J-M Hameury, 1995).

→ disk; → instability; → model.