2008ApJ...675..373R

For purposes of designing targeted cataclysmic variable (CV) detection surveys and interpreting results of other projects with many CV detections such as the ChaMPlane Survey, we have created a model of the CV distribution in the Galaxy. It is modeled as a warped, flared exponential disk with a Gaussian vertical distribution. Extinction is based on a detailed Galactic dust and gas model. A luminosity function for CVs is also incorporated, based on a smoothed version of published data. We calculate predicted field detection rates as a function of the limiting magnitude expected for the detecting system (i.e., WIYN/Hydra or NOAO 4 m/Mosaic). Monte Carlo techniques are used to assess statistical fluctuations in these rates. We have created maps of the expected CV distribution for the full nonbulge Galactic plane (20°<l<340°,|b|<15°) for use in both the ChaMPlane Survey and future CV surveys. Assuming a CV distribution with a scale height of 160 pc, the ChaMPlane observational result of 5 CVs in 13 northern fields is best fit by a CV local space density of 0.9^+1.5_–0.5x10^–5/pc3, with the range representing the 95% confidence interval.