Cataclysmic-variable period minimum ($P_{\min }$)

For a Roche lobe-filling donor with local radius response $R_2\propto M_2^{\zeta }$, the Roche-lobe-filling period-density relation gives $P\propto M_2^{(3\zeta -1)/2}$. As mass is lost, the period falls for $\zeta >1/3$ and rises for $\zeta <1/3$, with a minimum at the transition. The reversal is called a period bounce. Slow evolution near the turning point produces an accumulation in the period distribution: for a steady flow of systems along one evolutionary branch, $N(P)\propto 1/|\dot{P}|$.