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The unusual variable star AM CVn has puzzled astronomers for over 40 years. This object, both a photometric and spectroscopic variable, is believed to contain a pair of hydrogen-deficient white dwarfs of extreme mass ratio, transferring material via an accretion disk. We examine the photometric properties of AM CVn, analyzing 289 hours of high-speed photometric data spanning 1976 to 1992. The power spectrum displays significant peaks at 988.7, 1248.8, 1902.5, 2853.8, 3805.2, 4756.5, and 5707.8 μHz (1011.4, 800.8, 525.6, 350.4, 262.8, 210.2, and 175.2 s). We find no detectable power at 951.3 μHz (1051 s), the previously reported main frequency. The 1902.5, 2853.9, and 3805.2 μHz peaks are multiplets, with frequency splitting in each case of 20.77 ± 0.05 μHz. The 1902.5 μHz seasonal pulse shapes are identical, within measurement noise, and maintain the same amplitude and phase as a function of color. We have determined the dominant frequency to be 1902.509802 ± 0.00001 μHz, with p = + 1.71 (±0.04) X 10-11 s s-ˡ. We discuss the implications of these findings on a model forAM CVn.

We observed G226-29 for 121 hr in 1992 February and confirm the presence of the three previously identified frequencies close to 109 s. We find no evidence of other pulsation periods down to our noise level of about 0.35 millimodulation amplitudes. The presence of only one triplet pulsation mode in G226-29 and its effective temperature near the blue edge of the instability strip identify the observed triplet of modes near 109 s as rotationally split components of the k = 1, l = 1 mode. With the mode identification, we derived a rotation period of 8.9 hr and an inclination of the pulsation axis of 70°-75° to our line of sight.

We report on the analysis of 154 hours of early continuous high-speed photometry on the pulsating DB white dwarf (DBV) GD 358, obtained during the Whole Earth Telescope (WET) run of 1990 May. The power spectrum of the light curve is dominated by power in the range from 1000 to 2400 μHz, with more than 180 significant peaks in the total spectrum. We identify ali of the triplet frequencies as degree l = 1, and from the details of their spacings we derive the total stellar mass as 0.61 ± 0.03 Mʘ , the mass of the outer helium envelope as 2.0 ± 1.0 x 10-6 M*, the absolute luminosity as 0.050 ± 0.012 Lʘ and the distance as 42 ± 3 pc. We find strong evidence for differential rotation in the radial direction−the outer envelope is rotating at least 1.8 times faster than the core−and we detect the presence of a weak magnetic field with a strength of 1300 ± 300 G. We also find a significant power at the sums and differences of the dominant frequencies, indi­ cating nonlinear processes are significant, but they have a richness and complexity that rules out resonant mode coupling as a major cause.