Field channelled accretion flow in magnetic cataclysmic variables

© 2005 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. We use a curvilinear coordinate system, which is natural to the dipolar magnetic field of accreting white dwarfs and solve the hydrodynamic equations governing the filed channelled accretion flow in magnetic cataclysmic variables. This take into account the effects due to curvature of the accretion stream under the gravity of the accretor. Our calculations show that the temperature and density profiles in the accretion stream are significantly different to those obtained from models assuming simple spherical or planar flows.