ON HIGH-MASS ACCRETION RATES IN MAGNETIZED COLUMN ACCRETION ONTO WHITE-DWARFS

We show that high mass accretion rates (M greater than or equal to 10( 18) g s(-1) in an intermediate polar (IF) GK Per are not only compatib le with observations but also favored over low mass accretion rates (M <10(17) g s(-1) during outbursts using various theoretical and observa tional constraints. The column accretion with high mass accretion rate s is significantly affected by radiation drag, which modifies the opti cally thin bremsstrahlung emission for M greater than or equal to 10(1 8) g s(-1). For high mass accretion rates, 2-10 keV X-ray luminosity i s not a good indicator of mass accretion rate in the X-ray emitting re gion. The high mass accretion rates deduced from optical-UV luminositi es which were previously estimated to be incompatible with those from X-ray luminosities are shown to be consistent. We discuss other observ ational constraints which are satisfied with high mass accretion rates . Narrowly constrained mass accretion rates could be used in construct ing more sophisticated magnetized accretion models in GK Per and other intermediate polars.