No nuclear reactions occur in the interior of a white dwarf. its brilliance comes from stored heat. therefore, the fate of an isolated white dwarf is to slowly lose its stored energy and dim over a long period of time. however, if a white dwarf is a member of a binary-star system with specific properties, the white dwarf can become explosively active. label the components of such a binary-star system capable of producing a nova event.

For a white dwarf star to become explosively active, the gap between the dwarf and therefore the companion should be sufficiently little that the white dwarf's force field will pull matter aloof from the surface of the companion. because of the rotation of the positional representation system, the matter flowing through the mass-transfer stream from the companion star forms a flat disk, known as associate degree accretion disk, that orbits round the white dwarf star.