Optical short-time variations in GK Persei during the 1983 outburst

During the August 1983 outburst of the old nova GK Persei observations with EXOSAT showed for the first time a 351 second periodicity in X-rays.Our fast photometry (U(B)V with 25 sec time resolution) was made at the end of the outburst in the nights of September 29, and October 1–3, using the 2.2 meter telescope at Calar Alto (Spain).Optical variations up to 10% in U and 4% in V with periodicities in the range 350 to 360 seconds were found, lasting only for few cycles.A comparison with the extrapolated prediction of the X-ray maxima did not show a coincidence, but rather an anticoincidence in several cases. This supports a model of reprocessed X-rays at the inner edge of an accretion disk.Paper presented at the IAU Colloquium No. 93 on Cataclysmic Variables. Recent Multi-Frequency Observations and Theoretical Developments, held at Dr. Remeis-Sternwarte Bamberg, F.R.G., 16–19 June, 1986.