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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2016
Dwarf nova outbursts provide an almost unique opportunity of getting an insight into the nature of viscosity in accretion disks or, within the α- disk approach, of putting some constraints on α. In particular, the strong dependence of the viscous time-scale on viscosity itself permits us to estimate a almost directly from the observed time-scales. In the case of the hot branch of the ∑ — Te relation, the most reliable estimates (αhot) are based on the rate of decline following the dwarf nova outburst. From a comparison with model light curves calculated with different αs one gets: αhot ≈ 0.2(e.g. Smak 1984b). An independent, but much cruder, estimate can be obtained from the widths of normal outbursts, by assuming that the duration of an outburst represents the travel time of an instability wave across the disk. The result is similar: αhot ≈ 0.2 (Gicger 1987).