SW Sex Stars Then and Now: A Review

Abstract

SW Sextantis stars are a class of cataclysmic variables originally defined via certain peculiar properties that they all have in common. In this article, I review our knowledge of these stars and show the way from a phenomenological classification to a physical understanding of these systems. The fact that SW Sex stars accumulate at the upper edge of the period gap is discussed with respect to the secular evolution of cataclysmic variables.