Unveiling U Gem Outbursts: Light Curve Analysis and Exploring Correlations of Outburst Mechanism

As a nova-typed cataclysmic star, U Gem exhibits outbursts in brightness and stars like this have left astronomers puzzled about the underlying mechanism. By analyzing U Gem’s light curve (a graph representing its changing magnitude over time which reveals the outburst cycle), spectrums, and the temperature variation of its white dwarf component, we gained a bit of understanding of these outbursts. Using professional data sites like The American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), we gathered light curves to identify different phases of outbursts as well as collected the visible spectrums and UV spectrums. During the narrow and wide outbursts, it brightened about an average of 4.7 mags, and 5.6667 mags respectively in Vis. band, the radial velocity increased 314.486 ± 11.2 km/s from the quiescence phase to the decline phase, and the WD cools from a temperature of ~41,500 K, 15 days after the peak of the outburst, to ~36,250 K, 56 days after the peak of the outburst. By studying periods of outbursts, we have linked them to material activities in U Gem. The Balmer spectral lines were also investigated to follow the variations in radial velocity during outburst phases. Correlating these phases with variations in radial velocity, derived from spectral line shifts, and white dwarf temperature changes during quiescence provides crucial insights into the system's behavior and helps to understand the dynamics of the accretion disk and the evolution of cataclysmic variable stars. This, I hope, is going to make it easier for others who may wish to study further about cataclysmic variable stars and the intricate dynamics of peculiar stars like this one to do so.