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How a black hole accretes matter and how this process is regulated are fundamental but unsolved questions in astrophysics. In transient black-hole binaries, a lot of mass stored in an accretion disk is suddenly drained to the central black hole because of thermal-viscous instability. This phenomenon is called an outburst and is observable at various wavelengths (Frank et al., 2002). During the outburst, the accretion structure in the vicinity of a black hole shows dramatical transitions from a geometrically-thick hot accretion flow to a geometrically-thin disk, and the transition is observed at X-ray wavelengths (Remillard, McClintock, 2006; Done et al., 2007). However, how that X-ray transition occurs remains a major unsolved problem (Dunn et al., 2008). Here we report extensive optical photometry during the 2018 outburst of ASASSN-18ey (MAXI J1820$+$070), a black-hole binary at a distance of 3.06 kpc (Tucker et al., 2018; Torres et al., 2019) containing a black hole and a donor star of less than one solar mass. We found optical large-amplitude periodic variations similar to superhumps which are well observed in a subclass of white-dwarf binaries (Kato et al., 2009). In addition, the start of the stage transition of the optical variations was observed 5 days earlier than the X-ray transition. This is naturally explained on the basis of our knowledge regarding white dwarf binaries as follows: propagation of the eccentricity inward in the disk makes an increase of the accretion rate in the outer disk, resulting in huge mass accretion to the black hole. Moreover, we provide the dynamical estimate of the binary mass ratio by using the optical periodic variations for the first time in transient black-hole binaries. This paper opens a new window to measure black-hole masses accurately by systematic optical time-series observations which can be performed even by amateur observers., Comment: VSOLJ Variable Star Bulletin submitted

We found that the SU UMa-type dwarf nova NY Ser in the period gap [orbital period 0.097558(6) d] showed standstills twice in 2018. This is the first clear demonstration of a standstill occurring between superoutbursts of an SU UMa-type dwarf nova. There was no sign of superhumps during the standstill, and at least one superoutburst directly started from the standstill. This provides strong evidence that the 3:1 resonance was excited during standstills. This phenomenon indicates that the disk radius can grow during standstills. We also interpret that the condition close to the limit of the tidal instability caused early quenching of superoutbursts, which resulted substantial amount of matter left in the disk after the superoutburst. We interpret that the substantial matter in the disk in condition close to the limit of the tidal instability is responsible for standstills (as in the high mass-transfer system NY Ser) or multiple rebrightenings (as in the low mass-transfer system V1006 Cyg)., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, Supporting information in si.pdf, accepted for publication in PASJ (Letters)

We report on two superoutbursts of the AM CVn-type object CR Boo in 2014 April--March and 2015 May--June. A precursor outburst acompanied both of these superoutbursts. During the rising branch of the main superoutburst in 2014, we detected growing superhumps (stage A superhumps) whose period was $0.017669(24)$ d. Assuming that this period reflects the dynamical precession rate at the radius of the 3:1 resonance, we could estimate the mass ratio ($q=M_2/M_1$) of 0.101(4) by using the stage A superhump period and the orbital one of 0.0170290(6) d. This mass ratio is consistent with that expected by the theoretical evolutionary model of AM CVn-type objects. The detection of precursor outbursts and stage A superhumps is the second case in AM CVn-type objects. There are two interpretations of the outbursts of AM CVn-type objects. One is a dwarf nova (DN) outbursts analogy, which is caused by thermal and tidal instabilities. Another is the VY Scl-type variation, which is caused by the variation of the mass-transfer rate of the secondary. This detection of the superhump variations strongly suggests the former interpretation., Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures

Continuing the project described by Kato et al. (2009, arXiv:0905.1757), we collected times of superhump maxima for 102 SU UMa-type dwarf novae observed mainly during the 2014-2015 season and characterized these objects. Our project has greatly improved the statistics of the distribution of orbital periods, which is a good approximation of the distribution of cataclysmic variables at the terminal evolutionary stage, and confirmed the presence of a period minimum at a period of 0.053 d and a period spike just above this period. The number density monotonically decreased toward the longer period and there was no strong indication of a period gap. We detected possible negative superhumps in Z Cha. It is possible that normal outbursts are also suppressed by the presence of a disk tilt in this system. There was no indication of enhanced orbital humps just preceding the superoutburst, and this result favors the thermal-tidal disk instability as the origin of superoutbursts. We detected superhumps in three AM CVn-type dwarf novae. Our observations and recent other detections suggest that 8% of objects showing dwarf nova-type outbursts are AM CVn-type objects. AM CVn-type objects and EI Psc-type object may be more abundant than previously recognized. OT J213806, a WZ Sge-type object, exhibited a remarkably different feature between the 2010 and 2014 superoutbursts. Although the 2014 superoutburst was much fainter the plateau phase was shorter than the 2010 one, the course of the rebrightening phase was similar. This object indicates that the O-C diagrams of superhumps can be indeed variable at least in WZ Sge-type objects. Four deeply eclipsing SU UMa-type dwarf novae (ASASSN-13cx, ASASSN-14ag, ASASSN-15bu, NSV 4618) were identified. We studied long-term trends in supercycles in MM Hya and CY UMa and found systematic variations of supercycles of ~20%., Comment: 116 pages, 151 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ

The analysis of 14 periodograms of EZ Lyn for the data spaced over 565 d in 2012--2014 (2-3.5 yr after 2010 outburst) yielded the existence of the stable signals around 100 c/d and three signals around 310 c/d, 338 c/d and 368 c/d (the corresponding periods are 864 s, 279 s, 256 s and 235 s). We interpret them as independent non-radial pulsations of the white dwarf in EZ Lyn, but a possibility that a linear combination of frequency at 100 c/d and harmonic of orbital period could produce the frequency at 368 c/d also cannot be excluded. The signal at 100 c/d was detected during the first stay in the instability strip as a transient one. The period at 338 c/d, is a known non-radial pulsation EZ Lyn entered the instability strip after the 2010 outburst. We detected the signals around 310 c/d and 368 c/d for the first time. We applied the two-dimensional least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) analysis for the first time to explore the behavior of these signals on the scale of hours for nightly runs of observations having duration of 6-12 hr. The Lasso analysis revealed the simultaneous existence of all three frequencies (310 c/d, 338 c/d and 368 c/d) for majority of nights of observations, but with variable amplitudes and variable drifts of frequencies by 2-6 percents on a time scale of ~5-7 hr. The largest drift we detected corresponded to 17.5 s in period in ~5 hours., Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, accepted in PASJ

Continuing the project described by Kato et al. (2009, PASJ, 61, S395, arXiv:0905.1757), we collected times of superhump maxima for 56 SU UMa-type dwarf novae mainly observed during the 2013-2014 season and characterized these objects. We detected negative superhumps in VW Hyi and indicated that the low number of normal outbursts in some supercycle can be interpreted as a result of the disk tilt. This finding, combined with the Kepler observation of V1504 Cyg and V344 Lyr, suggests that the disk tilt is responsible for modulating the outburst pattern in SU UMa-type dwarf novae. We also studied the deeply eclipsing WZ Sge-type dwarf nova MASTER OT J005740.99+443101.5 and found evidence of a sharp eclipse during the phase of early superhumps. The profile can be reproduced by a combination of the eclipse of the axisymmetric disk and the uneclipsed light source of early superhumps. This finding confirms the lack of evince of a greatly enhanced hot spot during the early stage of WZ Sge-type outburst. We detected growing (stage A) superhumps in MN Dra and give a suggestion that some of SU UMa-type dwarf novae situated near the critical condition of tidal instability may show long-lasting stage A superhumps. The large negative period derivatives reported in such systems can be understood a result of the combination of stage A and B superhumps. The WZ Sge-type dwarf novae AL Com and ASASSN-13ck showed a long-lasting (plateau-type) rebrightening. In the early phase of the rebrightening, both objects showed a precursor-like outburst, suggesting that the long-lasting rebrightening is triggered by a precursor outburst., Comment: 73 pages, 88 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ