  We analyze the last 125 years optical light curve of the symbiotic star AX
Per through some remarkable correlations that we discovered in its power
spectrum. The data were assembled from the literature and from the AAVSO
database. A series of 6 major outbursts dominate the light curve. They are
presented in the power spectrum as 13 harmonics of the fundamental frequency
fa=1/Pa=1/23172 day-1. We refer to them as the "red" frequencies. Oscillations
with the binary periodicity of the system Pb=1/fb=681.48 d are also seen in the
light curve, with particularly large amplitudes during outbursts. The fb peak
in the power spectrum is accompanied by 13 other peaks on each side, to which
we refer as the "blue" frequencies. A distinct structure in the frequency
distribution of the blue peaks, as well as in their peak power are best
interpreted as reflecting beating of the 13 "red" frequencies with the binary
one. We suggest, following others, that the major outbursts of the system
result from events of intense mass loss from the giant star. Mass accretion
onto the hot component, partially through the L1 point of the system, took
place in the last 125 years at a rate that oscillated with the 13 first
harmonics of the fa frequency. The binary orbit is slightly eccentric and
periastron passages induced modulation of the L1 accretion at the binary
frequency. Hence the fb oscillations in the brightness of the star of amplitude
that is modulated by the "red" frequencies of the system.
